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Post by iconoclast on May 16, 2023 11:09:47 GMT -5
www.chapellibrary.org/pdf/books/aogo.pdf
Chapter 1
The Solitariness of God
THE TITLE OF THIS ARTICLE IS PERHAPS NOT SUFFICIENTLY explicit to indicate its theme. This is partly due
to the fact that so few today are accustomed to meditate upon the personal perfections of God. Comparatively few of those
who occasionally read the Bible are aware of the awe-inspiring and worship-provoking grandeur of the divine character.
That God is great in wisdom, wondrous in power, yet full of mercy, is assumed by many to be almost common
knowledge; but, to entertain anything approaching an adequate conception of His being, His nature, and His attributes, as
these are revealed in Holy Scripture, is something which very, very few people in these degenerate times have attained
unto. God is solitary in His excellency. “Who is like unto Thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like Thee, glorious in
holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (Exo 15:11).
Before all else “In the beginning God” (Gen 1:1). There was a time, if “time” it could be called, when God, in the unity of His nature (though subsisting equally in three divine persons), dwelt all alone. “In the beginning God.” There was no heaven, where
His glory is now particularly manifested. There was no earth to engage His attention. There were no angels to hymn His
praises; no universe to be upheld by the word of His power. There was nothing, no one, but God; and that, not for a day, a
year, or an age, but “from everlasting.” During eternity past, God was alone: self-contained, self-sufficient, self-satisfied; in need of nothing. Had a universe, had angels, had human beings been necessary to Him in any way, they also had been called into existence from all eternity. The creating of them when He did, added nothing to God essentially. He changes not (Mal 3:6), therefore His essential glory can be neither augmented nor diminished.
His sovereign will
God was under no constraint, no obligation, no necessity to create. That He chose to do so was purely a sovereign act on His part, caused by nothing outside Himself, determined by nothing but His own mere good pleasure; for He “worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph 1:11). That He did create was simply for His manifestative glory. Do
some of our readers imagine that we have gone beyond what Scripture warrants? Then our appeal shall be to the Law and
the Testimony: “Stand up and bless the LORD your God for ever and ever: and blessed be Thy glorious name, which is
exalted above all blessing and praise” (Neh 9:5). God is no gainer even from our worship. He was in no need of that
external glory of His grace which arises from His redeemed, for He is glorious enough in Himself without that. What was
it that moved Him to predestinate His elect to the praise of the glory of His grace? It was, as Ephesians 1:5 tells us,
“according to the good pleasure of His will.”
We are well aware that the high ground we are here treading is new and strange to almost all of our readers; for that
reason it is well to move slowly. Let our appeal again be to the Scriptures. At the end of Romans 11, where the Apostle
brings to a close his long argument on salvation by pure and sovereign grace, he asks, “For who hath known the mind of
the Lord? Or who hath been His counselor? Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?”
(vv. 34-35). The force of this is, it is impossible to bring the Almighty under obligations to the creature; God gains
nothing from us. “If thou be righteous, what givest thou Him? Or what receiveth He of thine hand? Thy wickedness may
hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit the son of man” (Job 35:7-8), but it certainly cannot affect God,
who is all-blessed in Himself. “When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are
unprofitable servants” (Luke 17:10)—our obedience has profited God nothing. Nay, we go further; our Lord Jesus Christ added nothing to God in His essential being and glory, either by what He did or suffered. True, blessedly and gloriously true, He manifested the glory of God to us, but He added naught to God. He Himself expressly declares so, and there is no appeal from His words: “My goodness extendeth not to Thee” (Psa 16:2). The whole of that Psalm is a Psalm of Christ. Christ’s goodness or righteousness reached unto His saints in the earth (v.3), but God was high above and beyond it all. God only is “the Blessed One” (Mark 14:61, Greek).
It is perfectly true that God is both honored and dishonored by men; not in His essential being, but in His official
character. It is equally true that God has been “glorified” by creation, by providence, and by redemption. This we do not
and dare not dispute for a moment. But all of this has to do with His manifestative glory and the recognition of it by us.
Yet had God so pleased He might have continued alone for all eternity, without making known His glory unto creatures.
Whether He should do so or not was determined solely by His own will. He was perfectly blessed in Himself before the
first creature was called into being. And what are all the creatures of His hands unto Him even now? Let Scripture again
make answer:
Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, He taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before Him are as nothing ; and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity. To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto Him? (Isa 40:15-18).
That is the God of Scripture; alas, He is still “the unknown God” (Acts 17:23) to the heedless multitudes.
It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: that bringeth the princes to nothing; He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity (Isa 40:22,23).
How vastly different is the God of Scripture from the “god” of the average pulpit!
Nor is the testimony of the New Testament any different from that of the Old: how could it be, seeing that both have
one and the same Author! There too we read, “Which in His times He shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate,
the King of kings, and Lord of lords: Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto;
whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen” (I Tim 6:15,16). Such an One is
to be revered, worshipped, adored. He is solitary in His majesty, unique in His excellency, peerless in His perfections. He
sustains all, but is Himself independent of all. He gives to all, but is enriched by none. By revelation
Such a God cannot be found out by searching. He can be known only as He is revealed to the heart by the Holy Spirit
through the Word. It is true that creation demonstrates a Creator so plainly that men are “without excuse”; yet, we still
have to say with Job, “Lo, these are parts of His ways: but how little a portion is heard of Him? but the thunder of His
power who can understand?” (26:14). The so-called argument from design by well-meaning “Apologists” has, we believe,
done much more harm than good, for it has attempted to bring down the great God to the level of finite comprehension,
and thereby has lost sight of His solitary excellence.
Analogy has been drawn between a savage finding a watch upon the sands, and from a close examination of it he infers
a watch-maker. So far so good. But attempt to go further: suppose that savage sits down on the sand and endeavors to
form to himself a conception of this watch-maker, his personal affections and manners; his disposition, acquirements, and
moral character—all that goes to make up a personality; could he ever think or reason out a real man—the man who made
the watch, so that he could say, “I am acquainted with him?” It seems trifling to ask such questions, but is the eternal and infinite God so much more within the grasp of human reason? No, indeed. The God of Scripture can only be known by
those to whom He makes Himself known . Nor is God known by the intellect. “God is Spirit” (John 4:24), and therefore can only be known spiritually. But fallen man is not spiritual; he is carnal. He is dead to all that is spiritual. Unless he is born again, supernaturally brought from death unto life, miraculously translated out of darkness into light, he cannot even see the things of God (John 3:3), still less apprehend them (I Cor 2:14). The Holy Spirit has to shine in our hearts (not intellects) in order to give us “the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (II Cor 4:6). And even that spiritual knowledge is but fragmentary. The regenerated soul has to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus (II Peter 3:18). The principal prayer and aim of Christians should be that we “walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col 1:10).
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Post by iconoclast on May 16, 2023 11:10:26 GMT -5
Chapter 2
The Decrees of God
THE DECREE OF GOD IS HIS PURPOSE OR DETERMINATION with respect to future things. We have used the singular number as Scripture does (Rom 8:28; Eph 3:11), because there was only one act of His infinite mind about future things. But we speak as if there had been many, because our minds are only capable of thinking of successive revolutions, as thoughts and occasions arise, or in reference to the various objects of His decree, which being many seem to us to require a distinct purpose for each one. But an infinite understanding does not proceed by steps, from one stage to another:
“Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:18). The decrees of God
The Scriptures make mention of the decrees of God in many passages, and under a variety of terms. The word “decree” is found in Psalm 2:7. In Ephesians 3:11 we read of His “eternal purpose.” In Acts 2:23 of His “determinate counsel and
foreknowledge.” In Ephesians 1:9 of the mystery of His “will.” In Romans 8:29 that He also did “predestinate.” In
Ephesians 1:9 of His “good pleasure.” God’s decrees are called His “counsel” to signify they are consummately wise.
They are called God’s “will” to show He was under no control, but acted according to His own pleasure. When a man’s
will is the rule of his conduct, it is usually capricious and unreasonable; but wisdom is always associated with “will” in the divine proceedings, and accordingly, God’s decrees are said to be “the counsel of His own will” (Eph 1:11).
The decrees of God relate to all future things without exception: whatever is done in time was foreordained before time
began. God’s purpose was concerned with everything, whether great or small, whether good or evil, although with
reference to the latter we must be careful to state that while God is the Orderer and Controller of sin, He is not the Author of it in the same way that He is the Author of good. Sin could not proceed from a holy God by positive and direct creation, but only by decretive permission and negative action. God’s decree is as comprehensive as His government, extending to all creatures and all events. It was concerned about our life and death; about our state in time, and our state in eternity. As God works all things after the counsel of His own will, we learn from His works what His counsel is (was), as we judge of an architect’s plan by inspecting the building which was erected under his directions.
God did not merely decree to make man, place him upon the earth, and then leave him to his own uncontrolled
guidance; instead, He fixed all the circumstances in the lot of individuals, and all the particulars which will comprise the history of the human race from its commencement to its close. He did not merely decree that general laws should be
established for the government of the world, but He settled the application of those laws to all particular cases. Our days
are numbered, and so are the hairs of our heads. We may learn what is the extent of the divine decrees from the
dispensations of providence, in which they are executed. The care of Providence reaches to the most insignificant
creatures, and the most minute events—the death of a sparrow, and the fall of a hair.
Properties of divine decrees
Let us now consider some of the properties of the divine decrees. First, they are eternal. To suppose any of them to be
made in time is to suppose that some new occasion has occurred; some unforeseen event or combination of circumstances
has arisen, which has induced the Most High to form a new resolution. This would argue that the knowledge of the Deity
is limited, and that He is growing wiser in the progress of time—which would be horrible blasphemy. No man who
believes that the divine understanding is infinite, comprehending the past, the present, and the future, will ever assent to the erroneous doctrine of temporal decrees. God is not ignorant of future events which will be executed by human
volitions; He has foretold them in innumerable instances, and prophecy is but the manifestation of His eternal prescience.
Scripture affirms that believers were chosen in Christ before the world began (Eph 1:4), yea, that grace was “given” to
them then (II Tim 1:9).
Secondly, the decrees of God are wise. Wisdom is shown in the selection of the best possible ends and of the fittest
means of accomplishing them. That this character belongs to the decrees of God is evident from what we know of them.
They are disclosed to us by their execution, and every proof of wisdom in the works of God is a proof of the wisdom of
the plan, in conformity to which they are performed. As the Psalmist declared, “O LORD, how manifold are Thy works!
in wisdom hast Thou made them all” (104:24). It is indeed but a very small part of them which falls under our
observation, yet, we ought to proceed here as we do in other cases, and judge of the whole by the specimen, of what is
unknown, by what is known. He who perceives the workings of admirable skill in the parts of a machine which he has an
opportunity to examine, is naturally led to believe that the other parts are equally admirable. In like manner we should
satisfy our minds as to God’s works when doubts obtrude themselves upon us, and repel any objections that may be
suggested by something that we cannot reconcile to our notions of what is good and wise. When we reach the bounds of
the finite and gaze toward the mysterious realm of the infinite, let us exclaim, “O the depth of the riches both of the
wisdom and knowledge of God!” (Rom 11:33).
Thirdly, they are free. “Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being His counselor hath taught Him? With
whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge, and
shewed to Him the way of understanding?” (Isa 40:13-14). God was alone when He made His decrees, and His determinations were influenced by no external cause. He was free to decree or not to decree, and to decree one thing and not another. This liberty we must ascribe to Him who is Supreme, Independent, and Sovereign in all His doings.
Fourthly, they are absolute and unconditional. The execution of them is not suspended upon any condition which may,
or may not be, performed. In every instance where God has decreed an end, He has also decreed every means to that end.
The One who decreed the salvation of His elect also decreed to work faith in them (II Thess 2:13). “My counsel shall
stand, and I will do all My pleasure” (Isa 46:10): but that could not be, if His counsel depended upon a condition which
might not be performed. But God “worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph 1:11).
Man’s responsibility Side by side with the immutability and invincibility of God’s decrees, Scripture plainly teaches that man is a responsible creature and answerable for his actions. And if our thoughts are formed from God’s Word the maintenance of the one will not lead to the denial of the other. That there is a real difficulty in defining where the one ends and the other begins is freely granted. This is ever the case where there is a conjunction of the divine and the human. Real prayer is indited [dictated] by the Spirit, yet it is also the cry of a human heart. The Scriptures are the inspired Word of God, yet they were written by men who were something more than machines in the hand of the Spirit. Christ is both God and man. He is Omniscient, yet “increased in wisdom” (Luke 2:52). He was Almighty, yet was “crucified through weakness” (II Cor 13:4). He was the Prince of life, yet He died. High mysteries are these, yet faith receives them unquestioningly. It has often been pointed out in the past that every objection made against the eternal decrees of God applies with equal force against His eternal foreknowledge.
Whether God has decreed all things that ever come to pass or not, all that own the being of a God, own that He knows all
things beforehand. Now, it is self-evident that if He knows all things beforehand, He either doth approve of them or doth not approve of them; that is, He either is willing they should be, or He is not willing they should be. But to will that they should be is to decree them (Jonathan Edwards).
Finally, attempt, with me, to assume and then to contemplate the opposite. To deny the divine decrees would be to
predicate a world and all its concerns regulated by UN-designed chance or blind fate. Then what peace, what assurance,
what comfort would there be for our poor hearts and minds? What refuge would there be to fly to in the hour of need and
trial? None at all. There would be nothing better than the black darkness and abject horror of atheism.
O my reader, how thankful should we be that everything is determined by infinite wisdom and goodness! What praise
and gratitude are due unto God for His divine decrees. It is because of them that “we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom 8:28). Well may we exclaim,
“For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to Whom be glory for ever. Amen” (Rom 11:36).
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Post by iconoclast on May 16, 2023 11:11:17 GMT -5
Chapter 3
The Knowledge of God
God’s omniscience
GOD IS OMNISCIENT. HE KNOWS EVERYTHING: EVERYTHING possible, everything actual; all events and all creatures, of the past, the present, and the future. He is perfectly acquainted with every detail in the life of every being in heaven, in earth, and in hell. “He knoweth what is in the darkness” (Dan 2:22). Nothing escapes His notice, nothing can be hidden from Him, nothing is forgotten by Him. Well may we say with the Psalmist, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it” (Psa 139:6). His knowledge is perfect. He never errs, never changes, never overlooks anything. “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Heb 4:13). Yes, such is the God “with whom we have to do”! “Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, Thou knowest it altogether” (Psa 139:2-4). What a wondrous Being is the God of Scripture! Each of His glorious attributes should render Him honorable in our esteem. The apprehension of His omniscience ought to bow us in adoration before Him. Yet how little do we meditate upon this divine perfection! Is it because the very thought of it fills us with uneasiness?
How solemn is this fact: nothing can be concealed from God! “For I know the things that come into your mind, every
one of them” (Eze 11:5). Though He be invisible to us, we are not so to Him. Neither the darkness of night, the closest
curtains, nor the deepest dungeon can hide any sinner from the eyes of Omniscience. The trees of the garden were not able
to conceal our first parents. No human eye beheld Cain murder his brother, but his Maker witnessed his crime. Sarah
might laugh derisively in the seclusion of her tent, yet was it heard by Jehovah. Achan stole a wedge of gold and carefully
hid it in the earth, but God brought it to light. David was at much pains to cover up his wickedness,
but ere long the allseeing God sent one of His servants to say to him, “Thou art the man”! And to writer and reader is also said, “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Num 32:23).
Men would strip Deity of His omniscience if they could—what a proof that “the carnal mind is enmity against God”
(Rom 8:7)! The wicked do as naturally hate this divine perfection as much as they are naturally compelled to acknowledge
it. They wish there might be no Witness of their sins, no Searcher of their hearts, no Judge of their deeds. They seek to
banish such a God from their thoughts: “They consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness” (Hosea
7:2). How solemn is Psalm 90:8! Good reason has every Christ-rejecter for trembling before it: “Thou hast set our
iniquities before Thee, our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance.”
But to the believer, the fact of God’s omniscience is a truth fraught with much comfort. In times of perplexity he says
with Job, “But He knoweth the way that I take” (23:10). It may be profoundly mysterious to me, quite incomprehensible to
my friends, but “He knoweth”! In times of weariness and weakness believers assure themselves, “He knoweth our frame;
He remembereth that we are dust” (Psa 103:14). In times of doubt and suspicion they appeal to this very attribute, saying,
“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and
lead me in the way everlasting” (Psa 139:23,24). In time of sad failure, when our actions have belied our hearts, when our
deeds have repudiated our devotion, and the searching question comes to us, “Lovest thou Me?”, we say, as Peter did,
“Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee” (John 21:17).
Here is encouragement to prayer. There is no cause for fearing that the petitions of the righteous will not be heard, or
that their sighs and tears shall escape the notice of God, since He knows the thoughts and intents of the heart. There is no danger of the individual saint being overlooked amidst the multitude of supplicants who daily and hourly present their
various petitions, for an infinite Mind is as capable of paying the same attention to millions as if only one individual were seeking its attention. So too the lack of appropriate language, the inability to give expression to the deepest longing of the soul, will not jeopardize our prayers, for “It shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear” (Isa 65:24). Past and future “Great is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding is infinite” (Psa 147:5). God not only knows whatsoever has happened in the past in every part of His vast domains, and He is not only thoroughly acquainted with everything that is now transpiring throughout the entire universe, but He is also perfectly cognizant of every event, from the least to the greatest, that ever will happen in the ages to come. God’s knowledge of the future is as complete as is His knowledge of the past and the present, and that, because the future depends entirely upon Himself. Were it in anywise possible for something to occur apart from either the direct agency or permission of God, then that something would be independent of Him, and He would at once cease to be Supreme. Now the divine knowledge of the future is not a mere abstraction, but something which is inseparably connected with and accompanied by His purpose. God has Himself designed whatsoever shall yet be, and what He has designed must be effectuated. As His most sure Word affirms, “He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand” (Dan 4:35). And again, “There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand” (Pro 19:21). The wisdom and power of God being alike infinite, the accomplishment of whatever He hath purposed is absolutely guaranteed. It is no more possible for the divine counsels to fail in their execution than it would be for the thrice holy God to lie. Nothing relating to the future is in anywise uncertain so far as the actualization of God’s counsels are concerned. None of His decrees are left contingent either on creatures or secondary causes. There is no future event which is only a mere possibility, that is, something which may or may not come to pass: “Known unto God are all His works from the beginning” (Acts 15:18). Whatever God has decreed is inexorably certain, for He is without variableness, or shadow of turning (James 1:17). Therefore we are told at the very beginning of that book, which unveils to us so much of the future, of “Things which must shortly come to pass” (Rev 1:1).
The perfect knowledge of God is exemplified and illustrated in every prophecy recorded in His Word. In the Old Testament are to be found scores of predictions concerning the history of Israel, which were fulfilled to their minutest detail, centuries after they were made. In them too are scores more foretelling the earthly career of Christ, and they too were accomplished literally and perfectly. Such prophecies could only have been given by One who knew the end from the beginning, and whose knowledge rested upon the unconditional certainty of the accomplishment of everything foretold. In like manner, both Old and New Testament contain many other announcements yet future, and they too “must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44), must because foretold by Him who decreed them. It should, however, be pointed out that neither God’s knowledge nor His cognition of the future, considered simply in themselves, are causative. Nothing has ever come to pass, or ever will, merely because God knew it. The cause of all things is the will of God. The man who really believes the Scriptures knows beforehand that the seasons will continue to follow each other with unfailing regularity to the end of earth’s history (Gen 8:22), yet his knowledge is not the cause of their succession. So God’s knowledge does not arise from things because they are or will be, but because He has ordained them to be. God knew and foretold the crucifixion of His Son many hundreds of years before He became incarnate, and this, because in the divine purpose, He was a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world: hence we read of His being“delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23).
A word or two by way of application. The infinite knowledge of God should fill us with amazement. How far exalted
above the wisest man is the Lord! None of us knows what a day may bring forth, but all futurity is open to His omniscient
gaze. The infinite knowledge of God ought to fill us with holy awe. Nothing we do, say, or even think, escapes the
cognizance of Him with whom we have to do: “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the
good” (Pro 15:3). What a curb this would be unto us, did we but meditate upon it more frequently! Instead of acting
recklessly, we should say with Hagar, “Thou God seest me” (Gen 16:13). The apprehension of God’s infinite knowledge
should fill the Christian with adoration. The whole of my life stood open to His view from the beginning. He foresaw my
every fall, my every sin, my every backsliding; yet, nevertheless, fixed His heart upon me. Oh, how the realization of this
should bow me in wonder and worship before Him!
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Post by iconoclast on May 16, 2023 11:13:38 GMT -5
Chapter 4
The Foreknowledge of God
WHAT CONTROVERSIES HAVE BEEN ENGENDERED BY THIS subject in the past! But what truth of Holy Scripture is there which hasnot been made the occasion of theological and ecclesiastical battles? The deity of Christ, His virgin birth, His atoning death, His second advent; the believer’s justification, sanctification, security; the church, its organization, officers, discipline; baptism, the Lord’s supper and a score of other precious truths might be mentioned. Yet, the controversies which have been waged over them did not close the mouths of God’s faithful servants; why, then, should we avoid the vexing question of God’s foreknowledge, because, forsooth, there are some who will charge us with fomenting strife? Let others contend if they will, our duty is to bear witness according to the light vouchsafed us. Error dispelled There are two things concerning the foreknowledge of God about which many are in ignorance: the meaning of the term, and its Scriptural scope. Because this ignorance is so widespread, it is an easy matter for preachers and teachers to palm off perversions of this subject, even upon the people of God. There is only one safeguard against error, and that is to be established in the faith; and for that, there has to be prayerful and diligent study, and a receiving with meekness the engrafted Word of God. Only then are we fortified against the attacks of those who assail us. There are those today who are misusing this very truth in order to discredit and deny the absolute sovereignty of God in the salvation of sinners. Just as higher critics are repudiating the divine inspiration of the Scriptures; evolutionists, the work of God in creation; so some pseudo Bible teachers are perverting His foreknowledge in order to set aside His unconditional election unto eternal life.
When the solemn and blessed subject of divine foreordination is expounded, when God’s eternal choice of certain ones
to be conformed to the image of His Son is set forth, the enemy sends along some man to argue that election is based upon
the foreknowledge of God, and this “foreknowledge” is interpreted to mean that God foresaw certain ones would be more
pliable than others, that they would respond more readily to the strivings of the Spirit, and that because God knew they
would believe, He accordingly, predestinated them unto salvation. But such a statement is radically wrong. It repudiates
the truth of total depravity, for it argues that there is something good in some men. It takes away the independency of
God, for it makes His decrees rest upon what He discovers in the creature. It completely turns things upside down, for in
saying God foresaw certain sinners would believe in Christ, and that because of this, He predestinated them unto salvation, is the very reverse of the truth. Scripture affirms that God, in His high sovereignty, singled out certain ones to be recipients of His distinguishing favors (Acts 13:48), and therefore He determined to bestow upon them the gift of faith. False theology makes God’s foreknowledge of our believing the cause of His election to salvation; whereas, God’s
election is the cause, and our believing in Christ is the effect . Truth proclaimed Ere proceeding further with our discussion of this much misunderstood theme, let us pause and define our terms. What is meant by “foreknowledge”? “To know beforehand,” is the ready reply of many. But we must not jump to conclusions, nor must we turn to Webster’s dictionary as the final court of appeal, for it is not a matter of the etymology of the term employed. What is needed is to find out how the word is used in Scripture. The Holy Spirit’s usage of an expression always defines its meaning and scope. It is failure to apply this simple rule which is responsible for so much confusion and error. So many people assume they already know the signification of a certain word used in Scripture, and then they are too dilatory to test their assumptions by means of a concordance. Let us amplify this point. Take the word “flesh.” Its meaning appears to be so obvious that many would regard it as a waste of time to look up its various connections in Scripture. It is hastily assumed that the word is synonymous with the physical body, and so no inquiry is made. But, in fact, “flesh” in Scripture frequently includes far more than what is corporeal; all that is embraced by the term can only be ascertained by a diligent comparison of every occurrence of it and by a study of each separate context. Take the word “world.” The average reader of the Bible imagines this word is the equivalent for the human race, and consequently, many passages where the term is found are wrongly interpreted. Take the word “immortality.” Surely it requires no study! Obviously it has reference to the indestructibility of the soul. Ah, my reader, it is foolish and wrong to assume anything where the Word of God is concerned. If the reader will take the trouble to carefully examine each passage where “mortal” and “immortal” are found, it will be seen that these words are never applied to the soul, but always to the body. Now what has been said on “flesh,” the “world,” “immortality,” applies with equal force to the terms “know” and “foreknow.” Instead of imagining that these words signify no more than a simple cognition, the different passages in which they occur require to be carefully weighed. The word “foreknowledge” is not found in the Old Testament. But “know” occurs there frequently. When that term is used in connection with God, it often signifies to regard with favor, denoting not mere cognition but an affection for the object in view. “I know thee by name” (Exo 33:17). “Ye have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you” (Deut 9:24). “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee” (Jer 1:5). “They have made princes, and I knew it not” (Hosea 8:4). “You only have I known of all the families of the earth” (Amos 3:2). In these passages “knew” signifies either loved or appointed . In like manner, the word “know” is frequently used in the New Testament, in the same sense as in the Old Testament.
“Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you” (Matt 7:23). “I am the good shepherd and know My sheep and am
known of Mine” (John 10:14). “If any man love God, the same is known of Him” (I Cor 8:3). “The Lord knoweth them
that are His” (II Tim 2:19). Foreknowledge defined
Now the word “foreknowledge” as it is used in the New Testament is less ambiguous than in its simple form “to
know.” If every passage in which it occurs is carefully studied, it will be discovered that it is a moot point whether it ever has reference to the mere perception of events which are yet to take place. The fact is that “foreknowledge” is never used in Scripture in connection with events or actions; instead, it always has reference to persons. It is persons God is said to “foreknow,” not the actions of those persons. In proof of this we shall now quote each passage where this expression is found. The first occurrence is in Acts 2:23. There we read, “Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” If careful attention is paid to the
wording of this verse, it will be seen that the Apostle was not there speaking of God’s foreknowledge of the act of the
crucifixion, but of the Person crucified: “Him [Christ] being delivered by...” The second occurrence is in Romans 8:29,30. “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called.” Weigh well the pronoun that is used here. It is not what He did foreknow, but whom He did. It is not the surrendering of their wills nor the believing of their hearts, but the persons themselves, that are here in view. “God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew”—(Rom 11:2). Once more the plain reference is to persons, and to persons only.
The last mention is in I Peter 1:2: “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.” Who are “elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father”? The previous verse tells us: the reference is to the “strangers scattered,” i.e., the Diaspora, the Dispersion, the believing Jews. Thus, here too the reference is to persons, and not to their foreseen acts. Now in view of these passages (and there are no more) what Scriptural ground is there for anyone saying God
“foreknew” the acts of certain ones, viz., their “repenting and believing,” and that because of those acts He elected them
unto salvation? The answer is: None whatever. Scripture never speaks of repentance and faith as being foreseen or
foreknown by God. Truly, He did know from all eternity that certain ones would repent and believe, yet this is not what
Scripture refers to as the object of God’s foreknowledge. The word uniformly refers to God’s foreknowing persons ; then
let us “hold fast the form of sound words” (II Tim 1:13).
Another thing to which we desire to call particular attention is that the first two passages quoted above show plainly
and teach implicitly that God’s foreknowledge is not causative, that instead, something else lies behind, precedes it, and
that something is His own sovereign decree. Christ was “delivered by the [1] determinate counsel and [2] foreknowledge
of God” (Acts 2:23). His counsel or decree was the ground of His foreknowledge. So again in Rom. 8:29. That verse
opens with the word “for,” which tells us to look back to what immediately precedes. What, then, does the previous verse
say? This: “All things work together for good to them...who are the called according to His purpose.” Thus God’s
foreknowledge is based upon His “purpose” or decree (see Psa 2:7).
God foreknows what will be because He has decreed what shall be. It is therefore a reversing of the order of Scripture,
a putting of the cart before the horse, to affirm that God elects because He foreknows people. The truth is, He foreknows
because He has elected. This removes the ground or cause of election from outside the creature, and places it in God’s
own sovereign will. God purposed in Himself to elect a certain people, not because of anything good in them or from
them, either actual or foreseen, but solely out of His own mere pleasure. As to why He chose the ones He did, we do not
know, and can only say, “Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight.” The plain truth in Romans 8:29 is that God,
before the foundation of the world, singled out certain sinners and appointed them unto salvation (II Thess 2:13). This is
clear from the concluding words of the verse: “Predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son.” God did not
predestinate those whom He foreknew were “conformed,” but, on the contrary, those whom He “foreknew” (i.e., loved
and elected) He predestinated “ to be conformed.” Their conformity to Christ is not the cause, but the effect of God’s
foreknowledge and predestination.
God did not elect any sinner because He foresaw that he would believe, for the simple but sufficient reason that no
sinner ever does believe until God gives him faith; just as no man sees until God gives him sight. Sight is God’s gift,
seeing is the consequence of my using His gift. So faith is God’s gift (Eph 2:8,9), believing is the consequence of my
using His gift. If it were true that God had elected certain ones to be saved because in due time they would believe, then
that would make believing a meritorious act, and in that event the saved sinner would have ground for “boasting,” which
Scripture emphatically denies (Eph 2:9). Surely God’s Word is plain enough in teaching that believing is not a meritorious act. It affirms that Christians are a people who “have believed through grace “ (Acts 18:27). If, then, they have believed “through grace,” there is absolutely nothing meritorious about “believing,” and if nothing meritorious, it could not be the ground or cause which moved God to choose them. No; God’s choice proceeds not from anything in us, or anything from us, but solely from His own sovereign pleasure. Once more, in Romans 11:5, we read of “a remnant according to the election of grace.” There it is, plain enough; election itself is of grace, and grace is unmerited favor, something for which we had no claim upon God whatsoever. It thus appears that it is highly important for us to have clear and spiritual views of the foreknowledge of God. Erroneous conceptions about it lead inevitably to thoughts most dishonoring to Him. The popular idea of divine foreknowledge is altogether inadequate. God not only knew the end from the beginning, but He planned, fixed,
predestinated everything from the beginning. And, as cause stands to effect, so God’s purpose is the ground of His
prescience. If then the reader be a real Christian, he is so because God chose him in Christ before the foundation of the
world (Eph 1:4), and chose not because He foresaw you would believe, but chose simply because it pleased Him to
choose; chose you notwithstanding your natural unbelief. This being so, all the glory and praise belongs alone to Him.
You have no ground for taking any credit to yourself. You have “believed through grace “ (Acts 18:27), and that, because
your very election was “of grace” (Rom 11:5).
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Post by iconoclast on May 16, 2023 11:14:19 GMT -5
Chapter 5
The Supremacy of God
Most do not know Him IN ONE OF HIS LETTERS TO ERASMUS, LUTHER SAID, “YOUR thoughts of God are too human.” Probably that
renowned scholar resented such a rebuke, the more so, since it proceeded from a miner’s son; nevertheless, it was
thoroughly deserved. We too, though having no standing among the religious leaders of this degenerate age, prefer the
same charge against the majority of the preachers of our day, and against those who, instead of searching the Scriptures
for themselves, lazily accept the teaching of others. The most dishonoring and degrading conceptions of the rule and reign
of the Almighty are now held almost everywhere. To countless thousands, even among those professing to be Christians,
the God of the Scriptures is quite unknown. Of old, God complained to an apostate Israel, “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself” (Psa 50:21). Such must now be His indictment against an apostate Christendom. Men imagine that the Most High is moved by sentiment, rather that actuated by principle. They suppose that His omnipotence is such an idle fiction that Satan is thwarting His designs on every side. They think that if He has formed any plan or purpose at all, then it must be like theirs, constantly subject to change. They openly declare that whatever power He possesses must be restricted, lest He invade the citadel of man’s “free will” and reduce him to a “machine.” They lower the all-efficacious atonement, which has actually redeemed everyone for whom it was made, to a mere “remedy,” which sin-sick souls may use if they feel disposed to; and they enervate the invincible work of the Holy Spirit to an “offer” of the Gospel which sinners may accept or reject as they please. The “god” of this twentieth century no more resembles the Supreme Sovereign of Holy Writ than does the dim flickering of a candle the glory of the midday sun. The “god” who is now talked about in the average pulpit, spoken of in the ordinary Sunday School, mentioned in much of the religious literature of the day, and preached in most of the so-called Bible Conferences is the figment of human imagination, an invention of maudlin sentimentality. The heathen outside of the pale of Christendom form “gods” out of wood and stone, while the millions of heathen inside Christendom manufacture a “god” out of their own carnal mind. In reality, they are but atheists, for there is no other possible alternative between an absolutely supreme God, and no God at all. A “god” whose will is resisted, whose designs are frustrated, whose purpose is checkmated, possesses no title to Deity, and so far from being a fit object of worship, merits naught but contempt. King of kings and Lord of lords The supremacy of the true and living God might well be argued from the infinite distance which separates the mightiest creatures from the almighty Creator. He is the Potter, they are but the clay in His hands, to be molded into vessels of honour, or to be dashed into pieces (Psa 2:9) as He pleases. Were all the denizens of heaven and all the inhabitants of the earth to combine in revolt against Him, it would occasion Him no uneasiness, and would have less effect upon His eternal and unassailable Throne than has the spray of Mediterranean’s waves upon the towering rocks of Gibraltar. So puerile and powerless is the creature to affect the Most High. Scripture itself tells us that when the Gentile heads unite with apostate Israel to defy Jehovah and His Christ, “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh” (Psa 2:4).
The absolute and universal supremacy of God is plainly and positively affirmed in many Scriptures. “Thine, O LORD,
is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine; Thine is the Kingdom, O LORD, and Thou art exalted as Head above all...And Thou reignest over all” (I Chron
29:11,12)—note, “reignest” now, not “will do so in the millennium.” “O LORD God of our fathers, art not Thou God in
heaven? and rulest not Thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in Thine hand is there not power and might, so that
none [not even the Devil himself] is able to withstand Thee?” (II Chron 20:6). Before Him presidents and popes, kings
and emperors, are less than grasshoppers. “But He is in one mind, and who can turn Him? and what His soul desireth, even that He doeth” (Job 23:13). Ah, my reader, the God of Scripture is no make-believe monarch, no mere imaginary sovereign, but King of kings, and Lord of lords. “I know that Thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from Thee” (Job 42:2)—that is, “no thought of Thine can be hindered” (margin); or, as another has translated it, “no purpose of Thine can be frustrated.” All that He has designed He does. All that He has decreed He performs. “But our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased” (Psa. 115:3); and why has He? Because “there is no wisdom nor
understanding nor counsel against the LORD” (Pro 21:30). Whatsoever the Lord pleased God’s supremacy over the works of His hands is vividly depicted in Scripture. Inanimate matter, irrational creatures, all perform their Maker’s bidding. At His pleasure the Red Sea divided and its waters stood up as walls (Exo 14); the earth opened her mouth, and guilty rebels went down alive into the pit (Num 16). When He so ordered, the sun stood still (Josh 10); and on another occasion went backward ten degrees on the dial of Ahaz (Isa 38:8). To exemplify His supremacy, He made ravens carry food to Elijah (I Kings 17), iron to swim on top of the waters (II Kings 6:5), lions to be tame when Daniel was cast into their den, fire to burn not when the three Hebrews were flung into its flames. Thus “Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did He in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places” (Psa 135:6). God’s supremacy is also demonstrated in His perfect rule over the wills of men. Let the reader ponder carefully Exodus 34:24. Three times in the year all the males of Israel were required to leave their homes and go up to Jerusalem. They lived in the midst of hostile people, who hated them for having appropriated their lands. What then, was to hinder the Canaanites from seizing their opportunity, and during the absence of the men, slaying the women and children and taking possession of their farms? If the hand of the Almighty was not upon the wills even of wicked men, how could He make this promise beforehand, that none should so much as “desire” their lands? Ah, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will” (Pro 21:1).
But, it may be objected, do we not read again and again in Scripture how that men defied God, resisted His will, broke
His commandments, disregarded His warnings, and turned a deaf ear to all His exhortations? Certainly we do. And does
this nullify all that we have said above? If it does, then the Bible plainly contradicts itself. But that cannot be. What the objector refers to is simply the wickedness of man against the external Word of God, whereas what we have mentioned
above is what God has purposed in Himself. The rule of conduct He has given us to walk by, is perfectly fulfilled by none
of us; His own eternal “counsels” are accomplished to their minutest details.
The absolute and universal supremacy of God is affirmed with equal plainness and positiveness in the New Testament.
There we are told that God “worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph 1:11)—the Greek for “worketh”
means “to work effectually.” For this reason we read, “For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom
be glory for ever. Amen” (Rom 11:36). Men may boast that they are free agents, with a will of their own, and are at
liberty to do as they please, but Scripture says to those who boast “we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell...Ye ought to say, If the Lord will” (James 4:13,15)! Here then is a sure resting-place for the heart. Our lives are neither the product of blind fate nor the result of capricious chance, but every detail of them was ordained from all eternity, and is now ordered by the living and reigning God. Not a hair of our heads can be touched without His permission. “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps” (Pro 16:9). What assurance, what strength, what comfort this should give the real Christian! “My times are in Thy hand” (Psa 31:15). Then let me “Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him” (Psa 37:7).
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Post by iconoclast on May 16, 2023 11:15:09 GMT -5
Chapter 6
The Sovereignty of God
God’s sovereignty defined
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD MAY BE DEFINED AS THE exercise of His supremacy—see preceding chapter. Being infinitely elevated above the highest creature, He is the Most High, Lord of heaven and earth. Subject to none, influenced by none, absolutely independent; God does as He pleases, only as He pleases, always as He pleases. None can thwart Him, none can hinder Him. So His own Word expressly declares: “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure” (Isa 46:10); “He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand” (Dan 4:35). divine sovereignty means that God is God in fact, as well as in name, that He is on the Throne of the universe, directing all things, working all things “after the counsel of His own will” (Eph 1:11).
Rightly did the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon say in his sermon on Matthew 20:15— There is no attribute more comforting to His children than that of God’s sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials, they believe that sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that sovereignty overrules them, and that sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children ought more earnestly to contend than the doctrine of
their Master over all creation
—the kingship of God over all the works of His own hands—the throne of God and His right to sit upon that throne.
On the other hand, there is no doctrine more hated by worldlings, no truth of which they have made such a football, as the
great, stupendous, but yet most certain doctrine of the sovereignty of the infinite Jehovah. Men will allow God to be
everywhere except on His throne. They will allow Him to be in His workshop to fashion worlds and make stars. They will
allow Him to be in His almonry to dispense His alms and bestow His bounties. They will allow Him to sustain the earth and
bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of heaven, or rule the waves of the ever-moving ocean; but when God ascends
His throne, His creatures then gnash their teeth. And we proclaim an enthroned God, and His right to do as He wills with His own, to dispose of His creatures as He thinks well, without consulting them in the matter; then it is that we are hissed and execrated, and then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us, for God on His throne is not the God they love. But it is God upon the throne that we love to preach. It is God upon His throne whom we trust.
“Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did He in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places” (Psa 135:6). Yes,
dear reader, such is the imperial Potentate revealed in Holy Writ. Unrivaled in majesty, unlimited in power, unaffected by
anything outside Himself. But we are living in a day when even the most “orthodox” seem afraid to admit the proper
Godhood of God. They say that to press the sovereignty of God excludes human responsibility; whereas human responsibility is based upon divine sovereignty, and is the product of it. Human responsibility and divine sovereignty
“But our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased” (Psa 115:3). He sovereignly chose to place each of His creatures on that particular footing which seemed good in His sight. He created angels: some He placed on a conditional footing, others He gave an immutable standing before Him (I Tim 5:21), making Christ their head (Col 2:10).
Let it not be overlooked that the angels which sinned (II Peter 2:4), were as much His creatures as the angels that sinned
not. Yet God foresaw they would fall, nevertheless He placed them on a mutable, creature, conditional footing, and
suffered them to fall, though He was not the Author of their sin. So too, God sovereignly placed Adam in the garden of Eden upon a conditional footing. Had He so pleased, He could have placed him upon an unconditional footing. He could have placed
him on a footing as firm as that occupied by the unfallen angels. He could have placed him upon a footing as sure and as immutable as that which His saints have in Christ. But, instead, He chose to set him in Eden on the basis of creature responsibility, so that he stood or fell according as he measured up or failed to measure up to his responsibility—obedience to his Maker. Adam stood accountable to God by the law which his Creator had given him. Here was responsibility, unimpaired responsibility, tested out under the most favorable conditions. Now God did not place Adam upon a footing of conditional, creature responsibility, because it was right He should so place him. No, it was right because God did it. God did not even give creatures being because it was right for Him to do so, i.e., because He was under any obligations to create; but it was right because He did so. God is sovereign. His will is supreme. So far from God being under any law of “right,” He is a law unto Himself, so that whatsoever He does is right. And woe be to the rebel that calls His sovereignty into question: “Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to Him that fashioneth it, What makest Thou?” (Isa 45:9). Again; the Lord God sovereignly placed Israel upon a conditional footing. The 19th, 20th and 24th chapters of Exodusafford a clear and full proof of this. They were placed under a covenant of works. God gave to them certain laws, and made national blessing for them depend upon their observance of His statutes. But Israel was stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart. They rebelled against Jehovah, forsook His law, turned unto false gods, and apostatized. In consequence, divine judgment fell upon them, they were delivered into the hands of their enemies, dispersed abroad throughout the earth, and remain under the heavy frown of God’s displeasure to this day.
It was God in the exercise of His high sovereignty that placed Satan and his angels, Adam, and Israel in their
respective responsible positions. But so far from His sovereignty taking away responsibility from the creature, it was by
the exercise thereof that He placed them on this conditional footing, under such responsibilities as He thought proper; by
virtue of which sovereignty, He is seen to be God over all. Thus, there is perfect harmony between the sovereignty of God
and the responsibility of the creature. Many have most foolishly said that it is quite impossible to show where divine
sovereignty ends and creature accountability begins. Here is where creature responsibility begins: in the sovereign
ordination of the Creator. As to His sovereignty, there is not and never will be any “end” to it!
Let us give further proofs that the responsibility of the creature is based upon God’s sovereignty. How many things are
recorded in Scripture which were right because God commanded them, and which would not have been right had He not
so commanded! What right had Adam to “eat” of the trees of the Garden? The permission of his Maker (Gen 2:16),
without which he would have been a thief! What right had Israel to “borrow” of the Egyptians’ jewels and raiment (Exo
12:35)? None, unless Jehovah had authorized it (Exo 3:22). What right had Israel to slay so many lambs for sacrifice?
None, except that God commanded it. What right had Israel to kill off all the Canaanites? None, save as Jehovah had
bidden them. What right has the husband to require submission from his wife? None, unless God had appointed it. And so
we might go on. Human responsibility is based upon divine sovereignty. One more example of the exercise of God’s absolute sovereignty. God placed His elect upon a different footing from Adam or Israel. He placed His elect upon an UN-conditional footing. In the Everlasting Covenant Jesus Christ was appointed their Head, took their responsibilities upon Himself, and wrought out a righteousness for them which is perfect, indefeasible, and eternal. Christ was placed upon a conditional footing, for He was “made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law,” only with this infinite difference; the others failed; He did not and could not. And who placed Christ upon that conditional footing? The Triune God. It was sovereign will that appointed Him, sovereign love that sent Him, sovereign authority that assigned Him His work.
Certain conditions were set before the Mediator. He was to be made in the likeness of sin’s flesh; He was to magnify
the law and make it honorable; He was to bear all the sins of all God’s people in His own body on the tree; He was to
make full atonement for them; He was to endure the outpoured wrath of God; He was to die and be buried. On the
fulfillment of those conditions, He was promised a reward: Isaiah 53:10-12. He was to be the Firstborn among many
brethren; He was to have a people who should share His glory. Blessed be His name for ever, He fulfilled those
conditions, and because He did so, the Father stands pledged, on solemn oath, to preserve through time and bless
throughout eternity every one of those for whom His incarnate Son mediated. Because He took their place, they now share
His. His righteousness is theirs, His standing before God is theirs, His life is theirs. There is not a single condition for them to meet, not a single responsibility for them to discharge in order to attain their eternal bliss. “By one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified [set apart]” (Heb 10:14).
Here then is the sovereignty of God openly displayed before all, displayed in the different ways in which He has dealt
with His creatures. Part of the angels, Adam, and Israel, were placed upon a conditional footing, continuance in blessing
being made dependent upon their obedience and fidelity to God. But in sharp contrast from them, the “little flock” (Luke
12:32), have been given an unconditional, an immutable standing in God’s covenant, God’s counsels, God’s Son; their
blessing being made dependent upon what Christ did for them. “The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal,
The Lord knoweth them that are His” (II Tim 2:19). The foundation on which God’s elect stand is a perfect one: nothing
can be added to it, nor anything taken from it (Eccl 3:14). Here, then, is the highest and grandest display of the absolute
sovereignty of God. Verily, He has “mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth” (Rom 9:18).
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Post by iconoclast on May 16, 2023 11:17:08 GMT -5
Chapter 7
The Immutability of God
God is distinguished from His creatures
IMMUTABILITY IS ONE OF THE DIVINE PERFECTIONS WHICH is not sufficiently pondered. It is one of the
excellencies of the Creator which distinguishes Him from all His creatures. God is perpetually the same: subject to no
change in His being, attributes, or determinations. Therefore God is compared to a “Rock” (Deut 32:4, etc.) which
remains immovable, when the entire ocean surrounding it is continually in a fluctuating state; even so, though all creatures
are subject to change, God is immutable. Because God has no beginning and no ending, He can know no change. He is
everlastingly “the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17).
Aspects of God’s immutability
First, God is immutable in His essence. His nature and being are infinite, and so, subject to no mutations. There never
was a time when He was not; there never will come a time when He shall cease to be. God has neither evolved, grown,
nor improved. All that He is today, He has ever been, and ever will be. “I am the LORD, I change not” (Mal 3:6) is His
own unqualified affirmation. He cannot change for the better, for He is already perfect; and being perfect, He cannot
change for the worse. Altogether unaffected by anything outside Himself, improvement or deterioration is impossible. He
is perpetually the same. He only can say, “I AM THAT I AM” (Exo 3:14). He is altogether uninfluenced by the flight of
time. There is no wrinkle upon the brow of eternity. Therefore His power can never diminish nor His glory ever fade.
Secondly, God is immutable in His attributes. Whatever the attributes of God were before the universe was called into
existence, they are precisely the same now, and will remain so for ever. Necessarily so; for they are the very perfections,
the essential qualities of His being. Semper idem (always the same) is written across every one of them. His power is
unabated, His wisdom undiminished, His holiness unsullied. The attributes of God can no more change than Deity can
cease to be. His veracity is immutable, for His Word is “for ever...settled in heaven” (Psa 119:89). His love is eternal: “I
have loved thee with an everlasting love” (Jer 31:3) and “Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them
unto the end” (John 13:1). His mercy ceases not, for it is “everlasting” (Psa 100:5).
Thirdly, God is immutable in His counsel. His will never varies. Perhaps some are ready to object that we ought to read
the following: “And it repented the LORD that He had made man” (Gen 6:6). Our first reply is, Then do the Scriptures
contradict themselves? No, that cannot be. Numbers 23:19 is plain enough: “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither
the son of man, that He should repent.” So also in I Samuel 15:29, “The Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for He is
not a man, that He should repent.” The explanation is very simple. When speaking of Himself, God frequently
accommodates His language to our limited capacities. He describes Himself as clothed with bodily members, as eyes,
ears, hands, etc. He speaks of Himself as “waking” (Psa 78:65), as “rising up early” (Jer 7:13); yet He neither slumbers
nor sleeps. When He institutes a change in His dealings with men, He describes His course of conduct as “repenting.”
Yes, God is immutable in His counsel. “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Rom 11:29). It must be
so, for “He is in one mind, and who can turn from Him? and what His soul desireth, even that He doeth” (Job 23:13).
Change and decay in all around we see,
May He who changeth not abide with thee.
God’s purpose never alters. One of two things causes a man to change his mind and reverse his plans: want of foresight
to anticipate everything, or lack of power to execute them. But as God is both omniscient and omnipotent there is never
any need for Him to revise His decrees. No, “The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of His heart to all
generations” (Psa 33:11). Therefore do we read of “the immutability of His counsel” (Heb 6:17).
Can human beings be depended upon?
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Herein we may perceive the infinite distance which separates the highest creature from the Creator. Creaturehood and
mutability are correlative terms. If the creature was not mutable by nature, it would not be a creature; it would be God. By
nature we tend toward nothingness, since we came from nothing. Nothing stays our annihilation but the will and
sustaining power of God. None can sustain himself a single moment. We are entirely dependent on the Creator for every
breath we draw. We gladly own with the Psalmist, Thou “holdeth our soul in life” (Psa 66:9). The realization of this ought
to make us lie down under a sense of our own nothingness in the presence of Him in Whom “we live, and move, and have
our being” (Acts 17:28).
As fallen creatures we are not only mutable, but everything in us is opposed to God. As such we are “wandering stars”
(Jude 13), out of our proper orbit. “The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest” (Isa 57:20). Fallen man is
inconstant. The words of Jacob concerning Reuben apply with full force to all of Adam’s descendants: “unstable as water”
(Gen 49:4). Thus it is not only a mark of piety, but also the part of wisdom to heed that injunction, “cease ye from man”
(Isa 2:22). No human being is to be depended on. “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no
help” (Psa 146:3). If I disobey God, then I deserve to be deceived and disappointed by my fellows. People who like you
today may hate you tomorrow. The multitude who cried, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” speedily changed to “Away with
Him, crucify Him.”
Where to fix our feet
Herein is solid comfort. Human nature cannot be relied upon; but God can! However unstable I may be, however fickle
my friends may prove, God changes not. If He varied as we do; if He willed one thing today and another tomorrow; if He
were controlled by caprice, who could confide in Him? But, all praise to His glorious name, He is ever the same. His
purpose is fixed; His will is stable; His word is sure. Here then is a Rock on which we may fix our feet, while the mighty
torrent is sweeping away everything around us. The permanence of God’s character guarantees the fulfillment of His
promises: “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither
shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee” (Isa 54:10).
Herein is encouragement to prayer .
What comfort would it be to pray to a god that, like the chameleon, changed color every moment? Who would put up a
petition to an earthly prince that was so mutable as to grant a petition one day, and deny it another? (Stephen Charnock, 1670).
Should someone ask, But what is the use of praying to One whose will is already fixed? We answer, Because He so
requires it. What blessings has God promised without our seeking them? “If we ask any thing according to His will, He
heareth us” (I John 5:14), and He has willed everything that is for His child’s good. To ask for anything contrary to His
will is not prayer, but rank rebellion.
Herein is terror for the wicked. Those who defy Him, who break His laws, who have no concern for His glory, but who
live their lives as though He existed not, must not suppose that, when at the last they shall cry to Him for mercy, He will
alter His will, revoke His word, and rescind His awful threatenings. No, He has declared, “Therefore will I also deal in
fury: Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in Mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not
hear them” (Eze 8:18). God will not deny Himself to gratify their lusts. God is holy, unchangingly so. Therefore God
hates sin, eternally hates it. Hence the eternality of the punishment of all who die in their sins.
The divine immutability, like the cloud which interposed between the Israelites and the Egyptian army, has a dark as well as a
light side. It insures the execution of His threatenings, as well as the performance of His promises; and destroys the hope
which the guilty fondly cherish, that He will be all lenity to His frail and erring creatures, and that they will be much more
lightly dealt with than the declarations of His own Word would lead us to expect. We oppose to these deceitful and
presumptuous speculations the solemn truth, that God is unchanging in veracity and purpose, in faithfulness and justice (John
Dick, 1850).
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Post by iconoclast on May 16, 2023 11:18:13 GMT -5
Chapter 8
The Holiness of God
Only God is holy
“WHO SHALL NOT FEAR THEE, O LORD, AND GLORIFY THY name? for Thou only art holy” (Rev 15:4). He
only is independently, infinitely, immutably holy. In Scripture He is frequently styled “The Holy One”: He is so because
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the sum of all moral excellency is found in Him. He is absolute Purity, unsullied even by the shadow of sin. “God is light,
and in Him is no darkness at all” (I John 1:5). Holiness is the very excellency of the divine nature: the great God is
“glorious in holiness” (Exo 15:11). Therefore do we read, “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look
on iniquity” (Hab 1:13). As God’s power is the opposite of the native weakness of the creature, as His wisdom is in
complete contrast from the least defect of understanding or folly, so His holiness is the very antithesis of all moral blemish
or defilement. Of old God appointed singers in Israel “that should praise the beauty of holiness” (II Chron 20:21). “Power
is God’s hand or arm, omniscience His eye, mercy His bowels, eternity His duration, but holiness is His beauty” (S.
Charnock). It is this, supremely, which renders Him lovely to those who are delivered from sin’s dominion.
A chief emphasis is placed upon this perfection of God:
God is oftener styled Holy than Almighty, and set forth by this part of His dignity more than by any other. This is more fixed
on as an epithet to His name than any other. You never find it expressed “His mighty name” or “His wise name,” but His great
name, and most of all, His holy name. This is the greatest title of honour; in this latter doth the majesty and venerableness of
His name appear (S. Charnock).
This perfection, as none other, is solemnly celebrated before the Throne of Heaven, the seraphim crying, “Holy, holy,
holy, is the LORD of hosts” (Isa 6:3). God Himself singles out this perfection, “Once have I sworn by My holiness” (Psa
89:35). God swears by His “holiness” because that is a fuller expression of Himself than any thing else. Therefore we are
exhorted, “Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness” (Psa 30:4). “This
may be said to be a transcendental attribute, that, as it were, runs through the rest, and casts luster upon them. It is an
attribute of attributes” (J. Howe, 1670). Thus we read: “the beauty of the LORD” (Psa 27:4), which is none other than “the
beauty of holiness” (Psa 110:3).
As it seems to challenge an excellency above all His other perfections, so it is the glory of all the rest: as it is the glory of the
Godhead, so it is the glory of every perfection in the Godhead; as His power is the strength of them, so His holiness is the
beauty of them; as all would be weak without almightiness to back them, so all would be uncomely without holiness to adorn
them. Should this be sullied, all the rest would lose their honour; as at the same instant the sun should lose its light, it would
lose its heat, its strength, its generative and quickening virtue. As sincerity is the luster of every grace in a Christian, so is
purity the splendor of every attribute in the Godhead. His justice is a holy justice, His wisdom a holy wisdom, His power a
“holy arm” (Psa 98:1). His truth or promise a “holy promise” (Psa 105:42). His name, which signifies all His attributes in
conjunction is “ holy” (Psa 103:1) (S. Charnock).
The manifestation of God’s holiness
God’s holiness is manifested in His works. “The LORD is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works” (Psa
145:17). Nothing but that which is excellent can proceed from Him. Holiness is the rule of all His actions. At the
beginning He pronounced all that He made “very good” (Gen 1:31), which He could not have done had there been
anything imperfect or unholy in them. Man was made “upright” (Eccl 7:29), in the image and likeness of his Creator. The
angels that fell were created holy, for we are told that they “kept not their first estate [habitation]” (Jude 6). Of Satan it is
written, “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee” (Eze 28:15).
God’s holiness is manifested in His law. That law forbids sin in all of its modifications: in its most refined as well as
its grossest forms, the intent of the mind as well as the pollution of the body, the secret desire as well as the overt act.
Therefore do we read, “The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Rom 7:12). Yes, “the
commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the
judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether” (Psa 19:8,9).
God’s holiness is manifested at the cross. Wondrously and yet most solemnly does the atonement display God’s
infinite holiness and abhorrence of sin. How hateful sin must be to God for Him to punish it to its utmost deserts when it
was imputed to His Son!
Not all the vials of judgment that have or shall be poured out upon the wicked world, nor the flaming furnace of a sinner’s
conscience, nor the irreversible sentence pronounced against the rebellious demons, nor the groans of the damned creatures,
give such a demonstration of God’s hatred of sin, as the wrath of God let loose upon His Son. Never did divine holiness
appear more beautiful and lovely than at the time our Savior’s countenance was most marred in the midst of His dying groans.
This He Himself acknowledges in Psalm 22. When God had turned His smiling face from Him, and thrust His sharp knife into
His heart, which forced that terrible cry from Him, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” He adores this
perfection—”Thou art holy” (v.3) (S. Charnock).
Because God is holy He hates all sin. He loves everything which is in conformity to His laws, and loathes everything
which is contrary to it. His Word plainly declares, “The froward is abomination to the LORD” (Prov 3:32). And again,
“The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD” (Prov 15:26). It follows, therefore, that He must
necessarily punish sin. Sin can no more exist without demanding His punishment than without requiring His hatred of it.
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God has often forgiven sinners, but He never forgives sin; and the sinner is only forgiven on the ground of Another having
borne his punishment: for “without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb 9:22). Therefore we are told “The LORD will
take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserveth wrath for His enemies” (Nahum 1:2). For one sin God banished our
first parents from Eden. For one sin all the posterity of Canaan, a son of Ham, fell under a curse which remains over them
to this day (Gen 9:21). For one sin Moses was excluded from Canaan, Elisha’s servant smitten with leprosy, Ananias and
Sapphira cut off out of the land of the living.
God’s holiness from a worldly perspective
Herein we find proof for the divine inspiration of the Scriptures. The unregenerate do not really believe in the holiness
of God. Their conception of His character is altogether one-sided. They fondly hope that His mercy will override
everything else. “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether as thyself” (Psa 50:21) is God’s charge against them. They think
only of a “god” patterned after their own evil hearts. Hence their continuance in a course of mad folly. Such is the
holiness ascribed to the divine nature and character in Scripture that it clearly demonstrates their superhuman origin. The
character attributed to the “gods” of the ancients and of modern heathendom is the very reverse of that immaculate purity
which pertains to the true God. An ineffably holy God, who has the utmost abhorrence of all sin, was never invented by
any of Adam’s fallen descendants! The fact is that nothing makes more manifest the terrible depravity of man’s heart and
his enmity against the living God than to have set before him One who is infinitely and immutably holy. His own idea of
sin is practically limited to what the world calls “crime.” Anything short of that, man palliates as “defects,” “mistakes,”
“infirmities,” etc. And even where sin is owned at all, excuses and extenuations are made for it.
The “god” which the vast majority of professing Christians “love” is looked upon very much like an indulgent old
man, who himself has no relish for folly, but leniently winks at the “indiscretions” of youth. But the Word says, “Thou
hatest all workers of iniquity” (Psa 5:5). And again, “God is angry with the wicked every day” (Psa 7:11). But men refuse
to believe in this God, and gnash their teeth when His hatred of sin is faithfully pressed upon their attention. No, sinful
man was no more likely to devise a holy God than to create the Lake of Fire in which he will be tormented for ever and
ever.
Because God is holy, acceptance with Him on the ground of creature doings is utterly impossible. A fallen creature
could sooner create a world than produce that which would meet the approval of infinite Purity. Can darkness dwell with
Light? Can the Immaculate One take pleasure in “filthy rags” (Isa 64:6)? The best that sinful man brings forth is defiled.
A corrupt tree cannot bear good fruit. God would deny Himself, vilify His perfections, were He to account as righteous
and holy that which is not so in itself; and nothing is so which has the least stain upon it contrary to the nature of God.
Mankind redeemed
But blessed be His name, that which His holiness demanded, His grace has provided in Christ Jesus our Lord. Every
poor sinner who has fled to Him for refuge stands “accepted in the Beloved” (Eph 1:6). Hallelujah!
Man approaches God
Because God is holy the utmost reverence becomes our approaches unto Him. “God is greatly to be feared in the
assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about Him” (Psa 89:7). Then “Exalt ye the LORD
our God, and worship at His footstool; He is holy” (Psa 99:5). Yes, “at His footstool ,” in the lowest posture of humility,
prostrate before Him. When Moses would approach unto the burning bush, God said, “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet”
(Exo 3:5). He is to be served “with fear” (Psa 2:11). Of Israel His demand was, “I will be sanctified in them that come
nigh Me, and before all the people I will be glorified” (Lev 10:3). The more our hearts are awed by His ineffable holiness,
the more acceptable will be our approaches unto Him.
Because God is holy we should desire to be conformed to Him. His commandment is, “Be ye holy, for I am holy” (I
Peter 1:16). We are not bidden to be omnipotent or omniscient as God is, but we are to be holy, and that “in all manner of
conversation [deportment]” (I Peter 1:15).
This is the prime way of honoring God. We do not so glorify God by elevated admirations, or eloquent expressions, or
pompous services for Him as when we aspire to a conversing with Him with unstained spirits, and live to Him in living
like Him (S. Charnock).
Then as God alone is the Source and Fount of holiness, let us earnestly seek holiness from Him; let our daily prayer be
that He may “sanctify us wholly; and our whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ” (I Thess 5:23).
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Post by iconoclast on May 16, 2023 11:19:47 GMT -5
Chapter 9
The Power of God
Establishing a correct concept of God’s power
WE CANNOT HAVE A RIGHT CONCEPTION OF GOD UNLESS we think of Him as all-powerful, as well as allwise. He who cannot do what he will and perform all his pleasure cannot be God. As God hath a will to resolve what He
deems good, so has He power to execute His will.
The power of God is that ability and strength whereby He can bring to pass whatsoever He pleases, whatsoever His infinite
wisdom may direct, and whatsoever the infinite purity of His will may resolve...As holiness is the beauty of all God’s
attributes, so power is that which gives life and action to all the perfections of the divine nature. How vain would be the
eternal counsels, if power did not step in to execute them. Without power His mercy would be but feeble pity, His promises an
empty sound, His threatenings a mere scarecrow. God’s power is like Himself: infinite, eternal, incomprehensible; it can
neither be checked, restrained, nor frustrated by the creature (Stephen Charnock).
“God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God” (Psa 62:11). “God hath spoken once”:
nothing more is necessary! Heaven and earth shall pass away, but His word abideth forever. “God hath spoken once”: how
befitting His divine majesty! We poor mortals may speak often and yet fail to be heard. He speaks but once and the
thunder of His power is heard on a thousand hills.
The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave His voice; hail stones and coals of fire. Yea, He sent out His
arrows, and scattered them; He shot out lightnings, and discomfited them. Then the channels of waters were seen, and the
foundations of the world were discovered at Thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of Thy nostrils (Psa 18:13-15).
“God hath spoken once”: behold His unchanging authority. “For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD?
who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?” (Psa 89:6). “And all the inhabitants of the earth are
reputed as nothing: and 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?” (Dan 4:35). This was openly displayed when God became
incarnate and tabernacled among men. To the leper He said, “I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was
cleansed” (Matt 8:3). To one who had lain in the grave four days He cried, “Lazarus, come forth,” and the dead came
forth. The stormy wind and the angry waves were hushed at a single word from Him. A legion of demons could not resist
His authoritative command.
God’s power and man’s pride
“Power belongeth unto God,” and to Him alone. Not a creature in the entire universe has an atom of power save what
God delegates. But God’s power is not acquired, nor does it depend upon any recognition by any other authority. It
belongs to Him inherently.
God’s power is like Himself, self-existent, self-sustained. The mightiest of men cannot add so much as a shadow of increased
power to the Omnipotent One. He sits on no buttressed throne and leans on no assisting arm. His court is not maintained by
His courtiers, not does it borrow its splendor from His creatures. He is Himself the great central source and Originator of all
power (C.H. Spurgeon).
Not only does all creation bear witness to the great power of God, but also to His entire independency of all created
things. Listen to His own challenge: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast
understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon
are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof?” (Job 38:4-6). How completely is the pride of
man laid in the dust!
Power is also used as a name of God, “the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power” (Mark 14:62), that is, at the right
hand of God. God and power are so inseparable that they are reciprocated. As His essence is immense, not to be confined in
place; as it is eternal, not to be measured in time; so it is almighty, not to be limited in regard of action (S. Charnock).
“Lo, these are parts of His ways: but how little a portion is heard of Him? but the thunder of His power who can
understand?” (Job 26:14). Who is able to count all the monuments of His power? Even that which is displayed of His
might in the visible creation is utterly beyond our powers of comprehension, still less are we able to conceive of
omnipotence itself. There is infinitely more power lodged in the nature of God than is expressed in all His works.
The hiding of God’s power
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“Parts of His ways” we behold in creation, providence, redemption, but only a “little part” of His might is seen in
them. Remarkably is this brought out—”And there was the hiding of His power” (Hab 3:4). It is scarcely possible to
imagine anything more grandiloquent than the imagery of this whole chapter, yet nothing in it surpasses the nobility of
this statement. The prophet (in vision) beheld the mighty God scattering the hills and overturning the mountains, which
one would think afforded an amazing demonstration of His power. Nay, says our verse, that is rather the “hiding” than the
displaying of His power. What is meant? This: so inconceivable, so immense, so uncontrollable is the power of Deity, that
the fearful convulsions which He works in nature conceal more than they reveal of His infinite might!
The immensity of God’s power
It is very beautiful to link together the following passages: He “treadeth upon the waves of the sea” (Job 9:8), which
expresses God’s uncontrollable power. “He walketh in the circuit of Heaven” (Job 22:14), which tells of the immensity of
His presence. He “walketh upon the wings of the wind” (Psa 104:3), which signifies the amazing swiftness of His
operations. This last expression is very remarkable. It is not that He “flieth,” or “runneth,” but that He “walketh” and that,
on the very “wings of the wind”—on the most impetuous of the elements, tossed into utmost rage, and sweeping along
with almost inconceivable rapidity, yet they are under His feet, beneath His perfect control!
Let us now consider God’s power in creation. “The heavens are Thine, the earth also is Thine, as for the world and the
fullness thereof, Thou hast founded them. The north and the south Thou hast created them” (Psa 89:11,12). Before man
can work he must have both tools and materials, but God began with nothing, and by His word alone out of nothing made
all things. The intellect cannot grasp it. God “spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast” (Psa 33:9).
Primeval matter heard His voice. “God said, Let there be...and it was so” (Gen 1). Well may we exclaim, “Thou hast a
mighty arm: strong is Thy hand, and high is Thy right hand” (Psa 89:13).
Who, that looks upward to the midnight sky; and, with an eye of reason, beholds its rolling wonders; who can forbear
inquiring, Of what were their mighty orbs formed? Amazing to relate, they were produced without materials. They sprung
from emptiness itself. The stately fabric of universal nature emerged out of nothing. What instruments were used by the
Supreme Architect to fashion the parts with such exquisite niceness, and give so beautiful a polish to the whole? How was it
all connected into one finely-proportioned and nobly finished structure? A bare fiat accomplished all. Let them be, said God.
He added no more; and at once the marvelous edifice arose, adorned with every beauty, displaying innumerable perfections,
and declaring amidst enraptured seraphs its great Creator’s praise. “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all
the host of them by the breath of His mouth (Psa 33:6) (James Hervey, 1789).
Consider God’s power in preservation. No creature has power to preserve itself. “Can the rush grow up without mire?
Can the flag grow without water?” (Job 8:11). Both man and beast would perish if there were not herbs for food; herbs
would wither and die if the earth were not refreshed with fruitful showers. Therefore is God called the Preserver of “man
and beast” (Psa 36:6), “upholding all things by the word of His power” (Heb 1:3). What a marvel of divine power is the
prenatal life of every human being! That an infant can live at all, and for so many months, in such cramped and filthy
quarters, and that without breathing, is unaccountable without the power of God. Truly He “holdeth our soul in life” (Psa
66:9).
The preservation of the earth from the violence of the sea is another plain instance of God’s might. How is that raging
element kept pent up within those limits wherein He first lodged it, continuing its channel, without overflowing the earth
and dashing in pieces the lower part of the creation? The natural situation of the water is to be above the earth, because it
is lighter, and immediately under the air, because it is heavier. Who restrains the natural quality of it? Certainly man does
not, and cannot. It is the fiat of its Creator which alone bridles it: “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall
thy proud waves be stayed” (Job 38:11). What a standing monument to the power of God is the preservation of the world!
Consider God’s power in government. Take His restraining of the malice of Satan. “The devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (I Peter 5:8). He is filled with hatred against God, and with fiendish enmity
against men, particularly the saints. He that envied Adam in paradise envies us the pleasure of enjoying any of God’s
blessings. Could he have his will, he would treat all the same way he treated Job: he would send fire from heaven on the
fruits of the earth, destroy the cattle, cause a wind to overthrow our houses, and cover our bodies with boils. But, little as
men may realize it, God bridles him to a large extent, prevents him from carrying out his evil designs, and confines him
within His ordinations.
So too God restrains the natural corruption of men. He suffers sufficient outbreakings of sin to show what fearful
havoc has been wrought by man’s apostasy from his Maker, but who can conceive the frightful lengths to which men
would go were God to remove His curbing hand? “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to
shed blood” (Rom 3:14,15)—This is the nature of every descendant of Adam. Then what unbridled licentiousness and
headstrong folly would triumph in the world, if the power of God did not interpose to lock down the floodgates of it! See
Psalm 93:3,4.
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Consider God’s power in judgment. When He smites, none can resist Him: see Ezekiel 22:14. How terribly this was
exemplified at the Flood! God opened the windows of heaven and broke up the great fountains of the deep, and (excepting
those in the ark) the entire human race, helpless before the storm of His wrath, was swept away. A shower of fire and
brimstone from heaven, and the cities of the plain were exterminated. Pharaoh and all his hosts were impotent when God
blew upon them at the Red Sea. What a terrific word is that in Romans 9:22: “What if God, willing to shew His wrath, and
to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.” God is going to
display His mighty power upon the reprobate not merely by incarcerating them in Gehenna, but by supernaturally
preserving their bodies as well as souls amid the eternal burnings of the Lake of Fire.
Well may all tremble before such a God! To treat with impudence One who can crush us more easily than we can a
moth, is a suicidal policy. To openly defy Him who is clothed with omnipotence, who can rend us in pieces or cast us into
Hell any moment He pleases, is the very height of insanity. To put it on its lowest ground, it is but the part of wisdom to
heed His command, “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little”
(Psa 2:12).
Well may the enlightened soul adore such a God! The wondrous and infinite perfections of such a Being call for
fervent worship. If men of might and renown claim the admiration of the world, how much more should the power of the
Almighty fill us with wonderment and homage. “Who is like unto Thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like Thee,
glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (Exo 15:11).
Well may the saint trust such a God! He is worthy of implicit confidence. Nothing is too hard for Him. If God were
stinted in might and had a limit to His strength we might well despair. But seeing that He is clothed with omnipotence, no
prayer is too hard for Him to answer, no need too great for Him to supply, no passion too strong for Him to subdue; no
temptation too powerful for Him to deliver from, no misery too deep for Him to relieve. “The LORD is the strength of my
life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psa 27:1).
Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in
us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen (Eph 3:20, 21).
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Post by iconoclast on May 16, 2023 11:21:19 GMT -5
Chapter 10
The Faithfulness of God
Faithful in all things, at all times
UNFAITHFULNESS IS ONE OF THE MOST OUTSTANDING sins of these evil days. In the business world, a
man’s word is, with exceedingly rare exceptions, no longer his bond. In the social world, marital infidelity abounds on
every hand, the sacred bonds of wedlock being broken with as little regard as the discarding of an old garment. In the
ecclesiastical realm, thousands who have solemnly covenanted to preach the truth make no scruple to attack and deny it.
Nor can reader or writer claim complete immunity from this fearful sin. In how many ways have we been unfaithful to
Christ, and to the light and privileges which God has entrusted to us! How refreshing, then, how unspeakably blessed, to
lift our eyes above this scene of ruin, and behold One who is faithful—faithful in all things, faithful at all times.
“Know therefore that the LORD Thy God, He is God, the faithful God” (Deut 7:9). This quality is essential to His
being; without it He would not be God. For God to be unfaithful would be to act contrary to His nature, which were
impossible: “If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself” (II Tim 2:13). Faithfulness is one of the
glorious perfections of His being. He is as it were clothed with it: “O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like
unto Thee? or to Thy faithfulness round about Thee?” (Psa 89:8). So too when God became incarnate it was said,
“Righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins” (Isa 11:5).
What a word is that in Psalm 36:5, “Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the
clouds.” Far above all finite comprehension is the unchanging faithfulness of God. Everything about God is great, vast,
incomparable. He never forgets, never fails, never falters, never forfeits His word. To every declaration of promise or
prophecy the Lord has exactly adhered, every engagement of covenant or threatening He will make good, for “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?” (Num 23:19). Therefore does the believer exclaim, “His compassions fail not,
they are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness” (Lam 3:22,23).
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Scripture abounds in illustrations of God’s faithfulness. More than four thousand years ago He said, “While the earth
remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Gen
8:22). Every year that comes furnishes a fresh witness to God’s fulfillment of this promise. In Genesis 15 we find that
Jehovah declared unto Abraham, “Thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them...But in the
fourth generation they shall come hither again” (vv.13-16). Centuries ran their weary course. Abraham’s descendants
groaned amid the brick-kilns of Egypt. Had God forgotten His promise? No, indeed. Read Exodus 12:41, “And it came to
pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD
went out from the land of Egypt.” Through Isaiah the Lord declared, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and
shall call His name Immanuel” (7:14). Again centuries passed, but “When the fullness of the time was come, God sent
forth His Son, made of a woman” (Gal 4:4).
God is true. His Word of promise is sure. In all His relations with His people God is faithful. He may be safely relied
upon. No one ever yet really trusted Him in vain. We find this precious truth expressed almost everywhere in the
Scriptures, for His people need to know that faithfulness is an essential part of the divine character. This is the basis of our
confidence in Him. But it is one thing to accept the faithfulness of God as a divine truth, it is quite another to act upon it.
God has given us many “exceeding great and precious promises,” but are we really counting on His fulfillment of them?
Are we actually expecting Him to do for us all that He has said? Are we resting with implicit assurance on these words,
“He is faithful that promised” (Heb 10:23)?
When difficulties occur
There are seasons in the lives of all when it is not easy, no not even for Christians, to believe that God is faithful. Our
faith is sorely tried, our eyes be dimmed with tears, and we can no longer trace the outworkings of His love. Our ears are
distracted with the noises of the world, harassed by the atheistic whisperings of Satan, and we can no longer hear the
sweet accents of His still small voice. Cherished plans have been thwarted, friends on whom we relied have failed us, a
professed brother or sister in Christ has betrayed us. We are staggered. We sought to be faithful to God, and now a dark
cloud hides Him from us. We find it difficult, yea, impossible, for carnal reason to harmonize His frowning providence
with His gracious promises. Ah, faltering soul, severely tried fellow pilgrim, seek grace to heed Isaiah 50:10, “Who is
among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of His servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let
him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God. “
When you are tempted to doubt the faithfulness of God, cry out, “Get thee hence, Satan.” Though you cannot now
harmonize God’s mysterious dealings with the avowals of His love, wait on Him for more light. In His own good time He
will make it plain to you. “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter” (John 13:7). The sequel will
yet demonstrate that God has neither forsaken nor deceived His child. “And therefore will the LORD wait, that He may be
gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of
judgment: blessed are all they that wait for Him “ (Isa 30:18).
“Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace,
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread,
Are rich with mercy, and shall break
In blessing o’er your head.”
“Thy testimonies which Thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful” (Psa 119:138). God has not only told
us the best, but He has not withheld the worst. He has faithfully described the ruin which the Fall has effected. He has
faithfully diagnosed the terrible state which sin has produced. He has faithfully made known his inveterate hatred of evil,
and that He must punish the same. He has faithfully warned us that He is “a consuming fire” (Heb 12:29). Not only does
His Word abound in illustrations of His fidelity in fulfilling His promises, but it also records numerous examples of His
faithfulness in making good His threatenings. Every stage of Israel’s history exemplifies that solemn fact. So it was with
individuals: Pharaoh, Korah, Achan and a host of others are so many proofs. And thus it will be with you, my reader:
unless you have fled or do flee to Christ for refuge, the everlasting burning of the Lake of Fire will be your sure and
certain portion. God is faithful.
Faithfulness demonstrated
God is faithful in preserving His people. “God is faithful, by Whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son” (I
Cor 1:9). In the previous verse promise was made that God would confirm unto the end His own people. The Apostle’s
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confidence in the absolute security of believers was founded not on the strength of their resolutions or ability to persevere,
but on the veracity of Him that cannot lie. Since God has promised to His Son a certain people for His inheritance, to
deliver them from sin and condemnation, and to make them participants of eternal life in glory, it is certain that He will
not allow any of them to perish.
God is faithful in disciplining His people. He is faithful in what He withholds, no less than in what He gives. He is
faithful in sending sorrow as well as in giving joy. The faithfulness of God is a truth to be confessed by us not only when
we are at ease, but also when we are smarting under the sharpest rebuke. Nor must this confession be merely of our
mouths, but of our hearts, too. When God smites us with the rod of chastisement, it is faithfulness which wields it. To
acknowledge this means that we humble ourselves before Him, own that we fully deserve His correction, and instead of
murmuring, thank Him for it. God never afflicts without a reason. “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you”
(I Cor 11:30), says Paul, illustrating this principle. When His rod falls upon us let us say with Daniel, “O LORD,
righteousness belongeth unto Thee, but unto us confusion of faces” (9:7).
“I know, O LORD, that Thy judgments are right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me” (Psa 119:75). Trouble
and affliction are not only consistent with God’s love pledged in the everlasting covenant, but they are parts of the
administration of the same. God is not only faithful notwithstanding afflictions, but faithful in sending them. “Then will I
visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless My lovingkindness will I not utterly take
from him, nor suffer My faithfulness to fail” (Psa 89:32,33). Chastening is not only reconcilable with God’s
lovingkindness, but it is the effect and expression of it. It would much quiet the minds of God’s people if they would
remember that His covenant love binds Him to lay on them seasonable correction. Afflictions are necessary for us: “In
their affliction they will seek Me early” (Hosea 5:15).
God is faithful in glorifying His people. “Faithful is He that calleth you, Who also will do it” (I Thess 5:24). The
immediate reference here is to the saints being “preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” God deals
with us not on the ground of our merits (for we have none), but for His own great name’s sake. God is constant to Himself
and to His own purpose of grace: “whom He called...them He also glorified” (Rom 8:30). God gives a full demonstration
of the constancy of His everlasting goodness toward His elect by effectually calling them out of darkness into His
marvelous light, and this should fully assure them of the certain continuance of it. “The foundation of God standeth sure “
(II Tim 2:19). Paul was resting on the faithfulness of God when he said, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded
that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day” (II Tim 1:12).
Faith in God’s faithfulness
The apprehension of this blessed truth will preserve us from worry. To be full of care, to view our situation with dark
forebodings, to anticipate the morrow with sad anxiety, is to reflect poorly upon the faithfulness of God. He who has cared
for His child through all the years will not forsake him in old age. He who has heard your prayers in the past will not
refuse to supply your need in the present emergency. Rest on Job 5:19, “He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven
there shall no evil touch thee.”
The apprehension of this blessed truth will check our murmurings. The Lord knows what is best for each one of us, and
one effect of resting on this truth will be the silencing of our petulant complainings. God is greatly honored when, under
trial and chastening, we have good thoughts of Him, vindicate His wisdom and justice, and recognize His love in His very
rebukes.
The apprehension of this blessed truth will beget increasing confidence in God. “Wherefore let them that suffer
according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator” (I Peter
4:19). When we trustfully resign ourselves, and all our affairs into God’s hands, fully persuaded of His love and
faithfulness, the sooner shall we be satisfied with His providences and realize that “He doeth all things well.”
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Post by iconoclast on May 16, 2023 11:22:07 GMT -5
Chapter 11
The Goodness of God
God’s goodness revealed
“THE GOODNESS OF GOD ENDURETH CONTINUALLY”(Psa 52:1). The goodness of God refers to the
perfection of His nature: “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (I John 1:5). There is such an absolute perfection
in God’s nature and being that nothing is wanting to it or defective in it, and nothing can be added to it to make it better.
He is originally good, good of Himself, which nothing else is; for all creatures are good only by participation and
communication from God. He is essentially good; not only good, but goodness itself: the creature’s good is a super-added
quality, in God it is His essence. He is infinitely good; the creature’s good is but a drop, but in God there in an infinite ocean
or gathering together of good. He is eternally and immutably good, for He cannot be less good than He is; as there can be no
addition made to Him, so no subtraction from Him (Thomas Manton).
God is summum bonum, the highest good.
The original Saxon meaning of our English word God is “The Good.” God is not only the greatest of all beings, but the
best. All the goodness there is in any creature has been imparted from the Creator, but God’s goodness in underived, for it
is the essence of His eternal nature. As God is infinite in power from all eternity, before there was any display thereof, or
any act of omnipotency put forth, so He was eternally good before there was any communication of His bounty, or any
creature to whom it might be imparted. Thus, the first manifestation of this divine perfection was in giving being to all
things. “Thou art good, and doest good” (Psa 119:68). God has in Himself an infinite and inexhaustible treasure of all
blessedness, enough to fill all things.
All that emanates from God—His decrees, His creation, His laws, His providences—cannot be otherwise than good: as
it is written, “And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Gen 1:31). Thus, the goodness
of God is seen, first, in creation. The more closely the creature is studied, the more the beneficence of its Creator becomes
apparent. Take the highest of God’s earthly creatures—man. Abundant reason has he to say with the Psalmist, “I will
praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well”
(139:14). Everything about the structure of our bodies attest to the goodness of their Maker. How suited the hands to
perform their allotted work! How good of the Lord to appoint sleep to refresh the wearied body! How benevolent His
provision to give to the eyes lids and brows for their protection! And so we might continue indefinitely.
Nor is the goodness of the Creator confined to man; it is exercised toward all His creatures. “The eyes of all wait upon
Thee; and Thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living
thing” (Psa 145:15,16). Whole volumes might be written, yea have been, to amplify this fact. Whether it be the birds of
the air, the beasts of the forest, or the fish in the sea, abundant provision has been made to supply their every need. God
“giveth food to all flesh, for His mercy endureth for ever” (Psa 136:25). Truly, “The earth is full of the goodness of the
LORD” (Psa 33:5).
The goodness of God is seen in the variety of natural pleasures which He has provided for His creatures. God might
have been pleased to satisfy our hunger without the food being pleasing to our palates—how His benevolence appears in
the varied flavors which He has given to meats, vegetables, and fruits! God has not only given us senses, but also that
which gratifies them; and this too reveals His goodness. The earth might have been as fertile as it is without its surface
being so delightfully variegated. Our physical lives could have been sustained without beautiful flowers to regale our eyes
with their colors, and our nostrils with their sweet perfumes. We might have walked the fields without our ears being
saluted by the music of the birds. Whence, then, this loveliness, this charm, so freely diffused over the face of nature?
Verily, the tender mercies of the Lord “are over all His works” (Psa 145:9).
The goodness of God is seen in that when man transgressed the law of His Creator a dispensation of unmixed wrath
did not at once commence. Well might God have deprived His fallen creatures of every blessing, every comfort, every
pleasure. Instead, He ushered in a regime of a mixed nature, of mercy and judgment. This is very wonderful if it be duly
considered, and the more thoroughly that regime be examined the more will it appear that “mercy rejoiceth against
judgment” (James 2:13). Notwithstanding all the evils which attend our fallen state, the balance of good greatly
preponderates. With comparatively rare exceptions, men and women experience a far greater number of days of health
than they do of sickness and pain. There is much more creature-happiness than creature-misery in the world. Even our
sorrows admit of considerable alleviation, and God has given to the human mind a pliability which adapts itself to
circumstances and makes the most of them.
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Nor can the benevolence of God be justly called into question because there is suffering and sorrow in the world. If
man sins against the goodness of God, if he despises “the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering,” and
after the hardness and impenitence of his heart treasurest up unto himself wrath against the day of wrath (Rom 2:4,5), who
is to blame but himself? Would God be “good” if He punished not those who ill-use His blessings, abuse His
benevolence, and trample His mercies beneath their feet? It will be no reflection upon God’s goodness, but rather the
brightest exemplification of it, when He shall rid the earth of those who have broken His laws, defied His authority,
mocked His messengers, scorned His Son, and persecuted those for whom He died.
The goodness of God appeared most illustriously when He sent forth His Son “made of a woman, made under the law,
to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Gal 4:4,5). Then it was that a
multitude of the heavenly host praised their Maker and said, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will
toward men” (Luke 2:14). Yes, in the Gospel the “grace [which word in Greek conveys the idea if benevolence or
goodness] of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11). Nor can God’s benignity be called into
question because He has not made every sinful creature to be a subject of His redemptive grace. He did not bestow it upon
the fallen angels. Had God left all to perish it would have been no reflection on His goodness. To any who would
challenge this statement we will remind him of our Lord’s sovereign prerogative: “Is it not lawful for Me to do what I will
with Mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?” (Matt 20:15).
Praise the Lord for His goodness
“Oh that men would praise the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!” (Psa
107:8). Gratitude is the return justly required from the objects of His beneficence; yet is it often withheld from our great
Benefactor simply because His goodness is so constant and so abundant. It is lightly esteemed because it is exercised
toward us in the common course of events. It is not felt because we daily experience it. “Despisest thou the riches of His
goodness?” (Rom 2:4). His goodness is “despised” when it is not improved as a means to lead men to repentance, but, on
the contrary, serves to harden them from the supposition that God entirely overlooks their sin.
The goodness of God is the life of the believer’s trust. It is this excellency in God which most appeals to our hearts.
Because His goodness endureth for ever, we ought never to be discouraged: “The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day
of trouble, and He knoweth them that trust in Him” (Nahum 1:7).
When others behave badly to us, it should only stir us up the more heartily to give thanks unto the Lord, because He is good;
and when we ourselves are conscious that we are far from being good, we should only the more reverently bless Him that He
is good. We must never tolerate an instant’s unbelief as to the goodness of the Lord; whatever else may be questioned, this is
absolutely certain, that Jehovah is good; His dispensations may vary, but His nature is always the same (C.H. Spurgeon).
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Post by iconoclast on May 16, 2023 11:27:41 GMT -5
Chapter 12
The Patience of God
FAR LESS HAS BEEN WRITTEN UPON THIS THAN THE OTHER excellencies of the divine character. Not a few
of those who have expatiated at length upon the divine attributes have passed over the patience of God without any
comment. It is not easy to suggest a reason for this, for surely the longsuffering of God is as much one of the divine
perfections as is His wisdom, power, or holiness, and as much to be admired and revered by us. True, the actual term will
not be found in a concordance as frequently as the others, but the glory of this grace itself shines forth on almost every
page of Scripture. Certain it is that we lose much if we do not frequently meditate upon the patience of God and earnestly
pray that our hearts and ways may be more completely conformed thereto.
Most probably the principal reason why so many writers have failed to give us anything, separately, upon the patience
of God was because of the difficulty of distinguishing this attribute from the divine goodness and mercy, particularly the
latter. God’s longsuffering is mentioned in conjunction with His grace and mercy again and again, as may be seen by
consulting Exodus 34:6, Numbers 14:18, Psalm 86:15, etc. That the patience of God is really a display of His mercy, that
it is indeed one way in which it is frequently manifested, cannot be denied. But that patience and mercy are one and the
same excellency, and are not to be separated, we cannot concede. It may not be easy to discriminate between them,
nevertheless, Scripture fully warrants us in affirming some things about the one which we cannot about the other.
God’s patience prevails
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Stephen Charnock, the Puritan, defines God’s patience, in part, thus:
It is part of the divine goodness and mercy, yet differs from both. God being the greatest goodness, hath the greatest mildness;
mildness is always the companion of true goodness, and the greater the goodness, the greater the mildness. Who so holy as
Christ, and who so meek? God’s slowness to anger is a branch...from His mercy: “The Lord is full of compassion, slow to
anger” (Psa 145:8). It differs from mercy in the formal consideration of the object: mercy respects the creature as miserable,
patience respects the creature as criminal; mercy pities him in his misery, and patience bears with the sin which engendered
the misery, and is giving birth to more.
Personally, we would define the divine patience as that power of control which God exercises over Himself, causing
Him to bear with the wicked and forbear so long in punishing them. In Nahum 1:3 we read, “The Lord is slow to anger
and great in power,” upon which Mr. Charnock said:
Men that are great in the world are quick in passion, and are not so ready to forgive an injury, or bear with an offender, as one
of a meaner rank. It is a want of power over that man’s self that makes him do unbecoming things upon a provocation. A
prince that can bridle his passions is a king over himself as well as over his subjects. God is slow to anger because great in
power. He has no less power over Himself than over His creatures.
It is at the above point, we think, that God’s patience is most clearly distinguished from His mercy. Though the
creature is benefited thereby, the patience of God chiefly respects Himself, a restraint placed upon His acts by His will;
whereas His mercy terminates wholly upon the creature. The patience of God is that excellency which causes Him to
sustain great injuries without immediately avenging Himself. He has a power of patience as well as a power of justice.
Thus the Hebrew word for the divine longsuffering is rendered “slow to anger” in Nehemiah 9:17, Psalm 103:8, etc. Not
that there are any passions in the divine nature, but that God’s wisdom and will is pleased to act with that stateliness and
sobriety which is becoming to His exalted majesty.
In support of our definition above let us point out that it was to this excellency in the divine character that Moses
appealed, when Israel sinned so grievously at Kadesh-Barnea, and there provoked Jehovah so sorely. Unto His servant the
Lord said, “I will smite them with the pestilence and disinherit them.” Then it was that the mediator Moses, as a type of
the Christ to come, pleaded, “I beseech Thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as Thou hast spoken saying,
The LORD is longsuffering” (Num 14:17). Thus, His “ longsuffering “ is His “power” of self-restraint.
Again, in Romans 9:22 we read, “What if God, willing to shew His wrath, and to make His power known, endured
with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.” Were God to immediately break these reprobate
vessels into pieces, His power of self-control would not so eminently appear; by bearing with their wickedness and
forbearing punishment so long, the power of His patience is gloriously demonstrated. True, the wicked interpret His
longsuffering quite differently—”Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of
the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil” (Eccl 8:11)—but the anointed eye adores what they abuse.
“The God of patience” (Rom 15:5) is one of the divine titles. Deity is thus denominated, first, because God is both the
Author and Object of the grace of patience in the saint. Secondly, because this is what He is in Himself: patience is one of
His perfections. Thirdly, as a pattern for us: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy,
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering “ (Col 3:12). And again, “Be ye therefore followers [emulators]
of God, as dear children” (Eph 5:1). When tempted to be disgusted at the dullness of another, or to be revenged on one
who has wronged you, call to remembrance God’s infinite patience and longsuffering with yourself.
God’s patience—then and now
The patience of God is manifested in His dealings with sinners. How strikingly was it displayed toward the
antediluvians. When mankind was universally degenerate, and all flesh had corrupted its way, God did not destroy them
till He had forewarned them. He “waited” (I Peter 3:20), probably no less than 120 years (Gen 6:3), during which time
Noah was a “preacher of righteousness” (II Peter 2:5). So, later, when the Gentiles not only worshipped and served the
creature more than the Creator, but also committed the vilest abominations contrary even to the dictates of nature (Rom
1:19-26) and thereby filled up the measure of their iniquity, yet, instead of drawing His sword for the extermination of
such rebels, God “suffered all nations to walk in their own ways,” and gave them “rain from heaven and fruitful seasons”
(Acts 14:16,17).
Marvelously was God’s patience exercised and manifested toward Israel. First, He “suffered their manners” for forty
years in the wilderness (Acts 13:18). Later, when they had entered Canaan, but followed the evil customs of the nations
around them, and turned to idolatry, though God chastened them sorely, He did not utterly destroy them, but in their
distress, raised up deliverers for them. When their iniquity was raised to such a height that none but a God of infinite
patience could have borne them, He spared them many years before He allowed them to be carried down into Babylon.
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Finally, when their rebellion against Him reached its climax by crucifying His Son, He waited forty years ere He sent the
Romans against them, and that, only after they had judged themselves “unworthy of everlasting life” (Acts 13:46).
How wondrous is God’s patience with the world today. On every side people are sinning with a high hand. The divine
law is trampled under foot and God Himself openly despised. It is truly amazing that He does not instantly strike dead
those who so brazenly defy Him. Why does He not suddenly cut off the haughty infidel and blatant blasphemer, as He did
Ananias and Sapphira? Why does He not cause the earth to open its mouth and devour the persecutors of His people, so
that, like Dathan and Abiram, they shall go down alive into the Pit? And what of apostate Christendom, where every
possible form of sin is now tolerated and practiced under cover of the holy name of Christ? Why does not the righteous
wrath of Heaven make an end of such abominations? Only one answer is possible: because God bears with “ much
longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.”
And what of the writer and the reader? Let us review our own lives. It is not long since we followed a multitude to do
evil, had no concern for God’s glory, and lived only to gratify self. How patiently He bore with our vile conduct! And
now that grace has snatched us as brands from the burning, giving us a place in God’s family, and has begotten us unto an
eternal inheritance in glory, how miserably we requite Him. How shallow our gratitude, how tardy our obedience, how
frequent our backslidings! One reason why God suffers the flesh to remain in the believer is that He may exhibit His
“longsuffering to us-ward “ (II Peter 3:9). Since this divine attribute is manifested only in this world, God takes advantage
to display it toward “His own.”
The school of holy experience
May our meditation upon this divine excellency soften our hearts, make our consciences tender, and may we learn in
the school of holy experience the “patience of saints,” namely, submission to the divine will and continuance in well
doing. Let us earnestly seek grace to emulate this divine excellency. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is
in heaven is perfect” (Matt 5:48). In the immediate context of this verse Christ exhorts us to love our enemies, bless them
that curse us, do good to them that hate us. God bears long with the wicked notwithstanding the multitude of their sins,
and shall we desire to be revenged because of a single injury?
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Post by iconoclast on May 16, 2023 11:28:55 GMT -5
Chapter 13
The Grace of God
A perfection of the divine character
GRACE IS A PERFECTION OF THE DIVINE CHARACTER WHICH is exercised only toward the elect. Neither in
the Old Testament nor in the New is the grace of God ever mentioned in connection with mankind generally, still less
with the lower orders of His creatures. In this it is distinguished from “mercy,” for the mercy of God is “over all His
works” (Psa 145:9). Grace is the sole source from which flows the goodwill, love, and salvation of God unto His chosen
people. This attribute of the divine character was defined by Abraham Booth in his helpful book The Reign of Grace thus:
It is the eternal and absolute free favor of God, manifested in the vouchsafement of spiritual and eternal blessings to the guilty
and the unworthy.
Divine grace is the sovereign and saving favor of God exercised in the bestowment of blessings upon those who have
no merit in them and for which no compensation is demanded from them. Nay, more; it is the favor of God shown to those
who not only have no positive deserts of their own, but who are thoroughly ill-deserving and hell-deserving. It is
completely unmerited and unsought, and is altogether unattracted by anything in or from or by the objects upon which it is
bestowed. Grace can neither be bought, earned, nor won by the creature. If it could be, it would cease to be grace. When a
thing is said to be of “grace,” we mean that the recipient has no claim upon it, that it was in nowise due him. It comes to
him as pure charity, and, at first, unasked and undesired.
The fullest exposition of the amazing grace of God is to be found in the Epistles of the Apostle Paul. In his writings
“grace” stands in direct opposition to works and worthiness, all works and worthiness, of whatever kind or degree. This is
abundantly clear from Romans 11:6, “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But
if it be of works, then is it no more grace, otherwise work is no more work.” Grace and works will no more unite than an
acid and an alkali. “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest
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any man should boast” (Eph 2:8,9). The absolute favor of God can no more consist with human merit than oil and water
will fuse into one (see also Rom 4:4,5).
There are three principal characteristics of divine grace. First, it is eternal. Grace was planned before it was exercised,
purposed before it was imparted: “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (II Tim 1:9).
Secondly, it is free, for none did ever purchase it: “Being justified freely by His grace” (Rom 3:24). Thirdly, it is
sovereign, because God exercises it toward and bestows it upon whom He pleases: “Even so might grace reign “ (Rom
5:21). If grace “reigns” then it is on the throne, and the occupant of the throne is sovereign. Hence “the throne of grace”
(Heb 4:16).
God’s sovereign selection
Just because grace is unmerited favor, it must be exercised in a sovereign manner. Therefore does the Lord declare, “I
will be gracious to whom I will be gracious” (Exo 33:19). Were God to show grace to all of Adam’s descendants, men
would at once conclude that He was righteously compelled to take them to heaven as a meet compensation for allowing
the human race to fall into sin. But the great God is under no obligation to any of His creatures, least of all to those who
are rebels against Him.
Eternal life is a gift, therefore it can neither be earned by good works, nor claimed as a right. Seeing that salvation is a
“gift,” who has any right to tell God on whom He ought to bestow it? It is not that the Giver ever refuses this gift to any
who seek it wholeheartedly, and according to the rules which He has prescribed. No! He refuses none who come to Him
empty-handed and in the way of His appointing. But if out of a world of impenitent and unbelieving rebels, God is
determined to exercise His sovereign right by choosing a limited number to be saved, who is wronged? Is God obliged to
force His gift on those who value it not? Is God compelled to save those who are determined to go their own way?
But nothing more riles the natural man and brings to the surface his innate and inveterate enmity against God than to
press upon him the eternality, the freeness, and the absolute sovereignty of divine grace. That God should have formed
His purpose from everlasting, without in anywise consulting the creature, is too abasing for the unbroken heart. That grace
cannot be earned or won by any efforts of man is too self-emptying for self-righteousness. And that grace singles out
whom it pleases to be its favored objects arouses hot protests from haughty rebels. The clay rises up against the Potter and
asks, “Why hast Thou made me thus?” A lawless insurrectionist dares to call into question the justice of divine
sovereignty.
The distinguishing grace of God is seen in saving those people whom He has sovereignly singled out to be His high
favorites. By “distinguishing” we mean that grace discriminates, makes differences, chooses some and passes by others. It
was distinguishing grace which selected Abraham from the midst of his idolatrous neighbors and made him “the friend of
God.” It was distinguishing grace which saved “publicans and sinners,” but said of the religious Pharisees, “Let them
alone” (Matt 15:14). Nowhere does the glory of God’s free and sovereign grace shine more conspicuously than in the
unworthiness and unlikeliness of its objects. Beautifully was this illustrated by James Hervey, (1751):
Where sin has abounded, says the proclamation from the court of heaven, grace doth much more abound. Manasseh was a
monster of barbarity, for he caused his own children to pass through the fire, and filled Jerusalem with innocent blood.
Manasseh was an adept in iniquity, for he not only multiplied, and to an extravagant degree, his own sacrilegious impieties,
but he poisoned the principles and perverted the manners of his subjects, making them do worse than the most detestable of
the heathen idolaters (see II Chron 33). Yet, through this superabundant grace he is humbled, he is reformed, and becomes a
child of forgiving love, an heir of immortal glory.
Behold that bitter and bloody persecutor, Saul; when, breathing out threatenings and bent upon slaughter, he worried the
lambs and put to death the disciples of Jesus. The havoc he had committed, the inoffensive families he had already ruined,
were not sufficient to assuage his vengeful spirit. They were only a taste, which, instead of glutting the bloodhound, made him
more closely pursue the track, and more eagerly pant for destruction. He is still athirst for violence and murder. So eager and
insatiable is his thirst, that he even breathes out threatening and slaughter (Acts 9:1). His words are spears and arrows, and his
tongue a sharp sword. ‘Tis as natural for him to menace the Christians as to breathe the air. Nay, they bled every hour in the
purposes of his rancorous heart. It is only owing to want of power that every syllable he utters, every breath he draws, does not
deal out deaths, and cause some of the innocent disciples to fall. Who, upon the principles of human judgment, would not have
pronounced him a vessel of wrath, destined to unavoidable damnation? Nay, who would not have been ready to conclude that,
if there were heavier chains and a deeper dungeon in the world of woe, they must surely be reserved for such an implacable
enemy of true godliness? Yet, admire and adore the inexhaustible treasures of grace— this Saul is admitted into the goodly
fellowship of the prophets, is numbered with the noble army of martyrs and makes a distinguished figure among the glorious
company of the apostles.
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The Corinthians were flagitious [shamefully wicked] even to a proverb [to the point of making a standard phrase in the
language]. Some of them wallowed in such abominable vices, and habituated themselves to such outrageous acts of injustice,
as were a reproach to human nature. Yet even these sons of violence and slaves of sensuality were washed, sanctified, justified
(I Cor 6:9-11). “Washed,” in the precious blood of a dying Redeemer; “sanctified,” by the powerful operations of the blessed
Spirit; “justified,” through the infinitely tender mercies of a gracious God. Those who were once the burden of the earth are
now the joy of heaven, the delight of angels.
Now the grace of God is manifested in and by and through the Lord Jesus Christ. “The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). This does not mean that God never exercised grace toward any before
His Son became incarnate—Genesis 6:8, Exodus 33:19, etc., clearly show otherwise. But grace and truth were fully
revealed and perfectly exemplified when the Redeemer came to this earth, and died for His people upon the cross. It is
through Christ the Mediator alone that the grace of God flows to His elect. “Much more the grace of God, and the gift of
grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ...much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of
righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ...so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus
Christ our Lord” (Rom 5:15,17,21).
The grace of God is proclaimed in the Gospel (Acts 20:24), which is to the self-righteous Jew a “stumbling block,” and
to the conceited and philosophizing Greek “foolishness.” And why so? Because there is nothing whatever in it that is
adapted to the gratifying of the pride of man. It announces that unless we are saved by grace, we cannot be saved at all. It
declares that apart from Christ, the unspeakable Gift of God’s grace, the state of every man is desperate, irremediable,
hopeless. The Gospel addresses men as guilty, condemned, perishing criminals. It declares that the most chaste moralist is
in the same terrible plight as is the most voluptuous profligate; and the zealous professor, with all his religious
performances, is no better off than the most profane infidel.
The Gospel contemplates every descendant of Adam as a fallen, polluted, hell-deserving and helpless sinner. The grace
which the Gospel publishes is his only hope. All stand before God convicted as transgressors of His holy law, as guilty
and condemned criminals, who are not merely awaiting sentence, but the execution of the sentence already passed upon
them (John 3:18; Rom 3:19). To complain against the partiality of grace is suicidal. If the sinner insists upon bare justice,
then the Lake of Fire must be his eternal portion. His only hope lies in bowing to the sentence which divine justice has
passed upon him, owning the absolute righteousness of it, casting himself on the mercy of God, and stretching forth empty
hands to avail himself of the grace of God now made known to him in the Gospel.
The third Person in the Godhead is the Communicator of grace, therefore is He denominated “the Spirit of grace”
(Zech 12:10). God the Father is the Fountain of all grace, for He purposed in Himself the everlasting covenant of
redemption. God the Son is the only Channel of grace. The Gospel is the Publisher of grace. The Spirit is the Bestrew. He
is the One who applies the Gospel in saving power to the soul: quickening the elect while spiritually dead, conquering
their rebellious wills, melting their hard hearts, opening their blind eyes, cleansing them from the leprosy of sin. Thus we
may say with the late G.S. Bishop:
Grace is a provision for men who are so fallen that they cannot lift the ax of justice, so corrupt that they cannot change their
own natures, so averse to God that they cannot turn to Him, so blind that they cannot see Him, so deaf that they cannot hear
Him, and so dead that He Himself must open their graves and lift them into resurrection.
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Post by iconoclast on May 16, 2023 11:29:44 GMT -5
Chapter 14
The Mercy of God
God’s mercy originates in His goodness
“O GIVE THANKS UNTO THE LORD: FOR HE IS GOOD: FOR His mercy endureth for ever” (Psa 136:1). For this
perfection of the divine character God is greatly to be praised. Three times over in as many verses does the Psalmist here
call upon the saints to give thanks unto the Lord for this adorable attribute. And surely this is the least that can be asked
for from those who have been recipients of such bounty. When we contemplate the characteristics of this divine
excellency, we cannot do otherwise than bless God for it. His mercy is “great” (I Kings 3:6), “plenteous” (Psa 86:5),
“tender” (Luke 1:78), “abundant” (I Peter 1:3); it is “from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him” (Psa
103:17). Well may we say with the Psalmist, “I will sing aloud of Thy mercy” (59:16).
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“I will make all My goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be
gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy” (Exo 33:19). Wherein differs the
“mercy” of God from His “grace”? The mercy of God has its spring in the divine goodness. The first issue of God’s
goodness is his benignity or bounty, by which He gives liberally to His creatures as creatures; thus has He given being and
life to all things. The second issue of God’s goodness is His mercy, which denotes the ready inclination of God to relieve
the misery of fallen creatures. Thus, mercy presupposes sin .
Though it may not be easy at the first consideration to perceive a real difference between the grace and the mercy of
God, it helps us thereto if we carefully ponder His dealings with the unfallen angels. He has never exercised mercy toward
them, for they have never stood in any need thereof, not having sinned or come beneath the effects of the curse. Yet, they
certainly are the objects of God’s free and sovereign grace. First, because of His election of them from out of the whole
angelic race (I Tim 5:21). Secondly, and in consequence of their election, because of His preservation of them from
apostasy, when Satan rebelled and dragged down with him one-third of the celestial hosts (Rev 12:4). Thirdly, in making
Christ their Head (Col 2:10; I Peter 3:22), whereby they are eternally secured in the holy condition in which they were
created. Fourthly, because of the exalted position which has been assigned them: to live in God’s immediate presence
(Dan 7:10), to serve Him constantly in His heavenly temple, to receive honorable commissions from Him (Heb 1:14).
This is abundant grace toward them; but “mercy” it is not.
In endeavoring to study the mercy of God as it is set forth in Scripture, a threefold distinction needs to be made, if the
Word of Truth is to be “rightly divided” thereon. First, there is a general mercy of God, which is extended not only to all
men, believers and unbelievers alike, but also to the entire creation: “His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psa
145:9); “He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25). God has pity upon the brute creation in their need,
and supplies them with suitable provision. Secondly, there is a special mercy of God, which is exercised toward the
children of men, helping and succoring them, notwithstanding their sins. To them also He communicates all the
necessities of life: “for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the
unjust” (Matt 5:45). Thirdly, there is a sovereign mercy which is reserved for the heirs of salvation, which is
communicated to them in a covenant way, through the Mediator.
The bestowing of His mercy
Following out a little further the difference between the second and third distinctions pointed out above, it is important
to note that the mercies which God bestows on the wicked are solely of a temporal nature; that is to say, they are confined
strictly to this present life. There will be no mercy extended to them beyond the grave: “It is a people of no understanding:
therefore He that made them will not have mercy on them, and He that formed them will show them no favor” (Isa 27:11).
But at this point a difficulty may suggest itself to some of our readers, namely, Does not Scripture affirm that “His mercy
endureth for ever” (Psa 136:1)? Two things need to be pointed out in that connection. God can never cease to be merciful,
for this is a quality of the divine essence (Psa 116:5); but the exercise of His mercy is regulated by His sovereign will.
This must be so, for there is nothing outside Himself which obliges Him to act; if there were, that “something” would be
supreme, and God would cease to be God .
It is pure sovereign grace which alone determines the exercise of divine mercy. God expressly affirms this fact in
Romans 9:15, “For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.” It is not the wretchedness of the
creature which causes Him to show mercy, for God is not influenced by things outside of Himself as we are. If God were
influenced by the abject misery of leprous sinners, He would cleanse and save all of them. But He does not. Why? Simply
because it is not His pleasure and purpose so to do. Still less is it the merits of the creatures which causes Him to bestow
mercies upon them, for it is a contradiction in terms to speak of meriting “mercy.” “ Not by works of righteousness which
we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5)—the one standing in direct antithesis to the other. Nor
is it the merit of Christ which moves God to bestow mercies on His elect: that would be substituting the effect for the
cause. It is “through” or because of the tender mercy of our God that Christ was sent here to His people (Luke 1:78). The
merits of Christ make it possible for God to righteously bestow spiritual mercies on His elect, justice having been fully
satisfied by the Surety! No, mercy arises solely from God’s imperial pleasure.
Who shall receive God’s mercies?
Again, though it be true, blessedly and gloriously true, that God’s mercy “endureth for ever,” yet we must observe
carefully the objects to whom His “mercy” is shown. Even the casting of the reprobate into the Lake of Fire is an act of
mercy. The punishment of the wicked is to be contemplated from a threefold viewpoint. From God’s side, it is an act of
justice, vindicating His honour. The mercy of God is never shown to the prejudice of His holiness and righteousness.
From their side, it is an act of equity, when they are made to suffer the due reward of their iniquities. But from the
standpoint of the redeemed, the punishment of the wicked is an act of unspeakable mercy. How dreadful would it be if the
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present order of things, when the children of God are obliged to live in the midst of the children of the Devil, should
continue for ever! Heaven would at once cease to be heaven if the ears of the saints still heard the blasphemous and filthy
language of the reprobate. What a mercy that in the New Jerusalem “there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that
defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination” (Rev 21:27)!
Lest the reader might think in the last paragraph we have been drawing upon our imagination, let us appeal to Holy
Scripture in support of what has been said. In Psalm 143:12 we find David praying, “And of Thy mercy cut off mine
enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am Thy servant.” Again, in Psalm 136:15 we read that God
“overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea: for His mercy endureth for ever.” It was an act of vengeance upon
Pharaoh and his host, but it was an act of mercy unto the Israelites. Again, in Revelation 19:1-3 we read:
I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord
our God: for true and righteous are His judgments: for He hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her
fornication, and hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for
ever and ever.
From what has just been before us, let us note how vain is the presumptuous hope of the wicked, who, notwithstanding
their continued defiance of God, nevertheless count upon His being merciful to them. How many there are who say, I do
not believe that God will ever cast me into Hell; He is too merciful. Such a hope is a viper, which if cherished in their
bosoms will sting them to death. God is a God of justice as well as mercy, and He has expressly declared that He will “by
no means clear the guilty” (Exo 34:7). Yea, He has said, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that
forget God” (Psa 9:17). As well might men reason thus: I do not believe that if filth be allowed to accumulate and sewage
become stagnant and people deprive themselves of fresh air, that a merciful God will let them fall a prey to a deadly fever.
The fact is that those who neglect the laws of health are carried away by disease, notwithstanding God’s mercy. Equally
true is it that those who neglect the laws of spiritual health shall forever suffer the second death.
Unspeakably solemn is it to see so many abusing this divine perfection. They continue to despise God’s authority,
trample upon His laws, continue in sin, and yet presume upon His mercy. But God will not be unjust to Himself. God
shows mercy to the truly penitent, but not to the impenitent (Luke 13:3). To continue in sin and yet reckon upon divine
mercy remitting punishment is diabolical. It is saying, “Let us do evil that good may come,” and of all such it is written
that their “damnation is just” (Rom 3:8). Presumption shall most certainly be disappointed; read carefully Deuteronomy
29:18-20. Christ is the spiritual Mercyseat, and all who despise and reject His Lordship shall “perish from the way, when
His wrath is kindled but a little” (Psa 2:12).
But let our final thought be of God’s spiritual mercies unto His own people. “Thy mercy is great unto the heavens”
(Psa 57:10). The riches thereof transcend our loftiest thought. “For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His
mercy toward them that fear Him” (Psa 103:11). None can measure it. The elect are designated “vessels of mercy” (Rom
9:23). It is mercy that quickened them when they were dead in sins (Eph 2:4,5). It is mercy that saves them (Titus 3:5). It
is His abundant mercy which begat them unto an eternal inheritance (I Peter 1:3). Time would fail us to tell of His
preserving, sustaining, pardoning, supplying mercy. Unto His own, God is “the Father of mercies” (II Cor 1:3).
“When all Thy mercies, O my God,
My rising soul surveys,
Transported with the view I’m lost,
In wonder, love, and praise.”
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Post by iconoclast on May 16, 2023 11:31:21 GMT -5
Chapter 15
The Lovingkindness of God
WE PROPOSE TO ENGAGE THE READER WITH ANOTHER OF His excellencies—of which every Christian
receives innumerable proofs. We turn to a consideration of God’s lovingkindness because our aim is to maintain a due
proportion in treating of the divine perfections, for all of us are apt to entertain one-sided views of them. A balance must
be preserved here (as everywhere), as it appears in those two statements of the divine attributes, “God is light” (I John
1:5), “God is love” (I John 4:8). The sterner, more awe-inspiring aspects of the divine character are offset by the gentler,
more winsome ones. It is to our irreparable loss if we dwell exclusively on God’s sovereignty and majesty, or His holiness
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and justice; we need to meditate frequently, though not exclusively, on His goodness and mercy. Nothing short of a fullorbed view of the divine perfections—as revealed in Holy Writ—should satisfy us.
The innumerable blessings on the Christian
Scripture speaks of “the multitude of His lovingkindnesses,” and who is capable of numbering them? (Isa 63:7). Said
the Psalmist, “How excellent is Thy lovingkindness, O God!” (36:7). No pen of man, no tongue of angel, can adequately
express it. Familiar as this blessed attribute of God’s may be to people, it is something entirely peculiar to divine
revelation. None of the ancients ever dreamed of investing his “gods” with such endearing perfection as this. None of the
objects worshipped by present-day heathen possess gentleness and tenderness; very much the reverse is true, as the
hideous features of their idols exhibit. Philosophers regard it as a serious reflection upon the honour of the Absolute to
ascribe such qualities to it. But the Scriptures have much to say about God’s lovingkindness, or His paternal favor to His
people, His tender affection toward them.
The first time this divine perfection is mentioned in the Word is in that wondrous manifestation of Deity to Moses,
when Jehovah proclaimed His “Name,” i.e., Himself as made known. “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and
gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth” (Exo 34:6), though much more frequently the Hebrew word,
chesed, is rendered “kindness” and “lovingkindness.” In our English Bibles the initial reference, as connected with God, is
Psalm 17:7, where David prayed, “Shew Thy marvelous lovingkindness, O Thou that savest by Thy right hand them
which put their trust in Thee.” Marvelous it is that One so infinitely above us, so inconceivably glorious, so ineffably
holy, should not only notice such worms of the earth, but also set His heart upon them, give His Son for them, send His
Spirit to indwell them, and so bear with all their imperfections and waywardness as never to remove His lovingkindness
from them.
Consider some of the evidences and exercises of this divine attribute unto the saints, “In love having predestinated us
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself” (Eph 1:4,5). As the previous verse shows, that love was engaged
in their behalf before this world came into existence. “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God
sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him” (I John 4:9), which was His amazing
provision for us fallen creatures. “I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn
thee” (Jer 31:3), by the quickening operations of My Spirit, by the invincible power of My grace, by creating in you a
deep sense of need, by attracting you by My winsomeness. “I will betroth thee unto Me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee
unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies” (Hosea 2:19). Having made us willing
in the day of His power to give ourselves to Him, the Lord enters into an everlasting marriage contract with us.
This lovingkindness of the Lord is never removed from His children. To our reason it may appear to be so, yet it never
is. Since the believer be in Christ, nothing can separate him from the love of God (Rom 8:39). God has solemnly engaged
Himself by covenant, and our sins cannot make it void. God has sworn that if His children keep not His commandments
He will “visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.” Yet He adds, “Nevertheless My
lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break” (Psa
89:31-34). Observe the change of number from “their” and “them” to “Him.” The lovingkindness of God toward His
people is centered in Christ. Because His exercise of lovingkindness is a covenant engagement it is repeatedly linked to
His “truth” (Psa 40:11; 138:2), showing that it proceeds to us by promise. Therefore we should never despair.
“For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the
covenant of My peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee” (Isa 54:10). No, that covenant has been
ratified by the blood of its Mediator, by which blood the enmity (occasioned by sin) has been removed and perfect
reconciliation effected. God knows the thoughts which He entertains for those embraced in His covenant and who have
been reconciled to Him; namely, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil” (Jer 29:11). Therefore we are assured, “The LORD
will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me” (Psa 42:8). What a word
that is! Not merely that the Lord will give or bestow, but command His lovingkindness. It is given by decree, bestowed by
royal engagement, as He also commands “deliverances...the blessing, even life for evermore” (Psa 44:4; 133:3), which
announces that nothing can possibly hinder these bestowments.
The response of the saints
What ought our response to be? First, “Be ye therefore followers [imitators] of God as dear children; and walk in love”
(Eph 5:1,2). “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness” (Col 3:12). Thus it was
with David: “Thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in Thy truth” (Psa 26:3). He delighted to ponder
it. It refreshed his soul to do so, and it molded his conduct. The more we are occupied with God’s goodness, the more
careful we will be about our obedience. The constraints of God’s love and grace are more powerful to the regenerate than
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the terrors of His Law. “How excellent is Thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under
the shadow of Thy wings” (Psa 36:7).
Second, a sense of this divine perfection strengthens our faith, and promotes confidence in God.
Third, it should stimulate the spirit of worship. “Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise
Thee” (Psa 63:3; cf. 138:2). Fourth, it should be our cordial when depressed. “Let...Thy merciful kindness [same Hebrew
word] be for my comfort” (Psa 119:76). It was so with Christ in His anguish (Psa 69:17). Fifth, it should be our plea in
prayer, “Quicken me, O LORD, according to Thy lovingkindness” (Psa 119:159). David applied to that divine attribute
for new strength and increased vigor. Sixth, we should appeal to it when we have fallen by the wayside. “Have mercy
upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness” (Psa 51:1). Deal with me according to the gentlest of Thy attributes,
make my case an exemplification of Thy tenderness. Seventh, it should be a petition in our evening devotions. “Cause me
to hear Thy lovingkindness in the morning” (Psa 143:8). Arouse me with my soul in tune therewith, let my waking
thoughts be of Thy goodness.
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