Attributes of God - Justice

Justice refers to that attribute of God which vindicates the righteousness of God, not vindictively or in vengeance, but in holy justice. Justice refers to the judgment which God, as a righteous God, must exercise against anything which falls short of His holy standards. Righteous laws and principles proceed from God’s holiness to legislate and govern the affairs of men. This is God’s righteousness at work, the legislative branch of His holiness (cf. Deut. 4:8). But from God’s holiness also comes the penalties and judgments attached to these laws. This is the judicial branch which we call justice.

We believe in a sovereign God who controls all things. On one occasion He said, “There is no God else beside Me; a just God and a Saviour” (Isaiah 45:21 KJV). How can a just God allow injustices to exist? We learn from the Bible that people who have not trusted Christ as Saviour from sin are condemned to eternal separation from God, even if they have never heard the message of salvation. Some may protest rather indignantly, “How can a just God allow that?” Maybe we need to find out what God’s justice involves.

While the most common Old Testament word for just means “straight,” and the New Testament word means “equal,” in a moral sense they both mean “right.” When we say that God is just, we are saying that He always does what is right, what should be done, and that He does it consistently, without partiality or prejudice. The word just and the word righteous are identical in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Sometimes the translators render the original word “just” and other times “righteous” with no apparent reason (cf. Nehemiah 9:8 and 9:33 where the same word is used). But whichever word they use, it means essentially the same thing. It has to do with God’s actions. They are always right and fair.

God’s righteousness (or justice) is the natural expression of His holiness. If He is infinitely pure, then He must be opposed to all sin, and that opposition to sin must be demonstrated in His treatment of His creatures. When we read that God is righteous or just, we are being assured that His actions toward us are in perfect agreement with His holy nature.

Because God is righteous and just, He has established moral government in the world, laid down principles which are holy and good, then added consequences which are just and fair for violating those principles. Furthermore, He is totally impartial in administering His government. He does not condemn innocent people or let guilty people go free. Peter says He is a God “who impartially judges according to each man’s work” (1 Peter 1:17). His treatment is never harsher than the crime demands.

If God is truly just and always acts in harmony with His holy nature, then He must show His displeasure with sin by opposing it and punishing it wherever it exists. He cannot enact a holy law, threaten a penalty, then take no action when His law is broken. Scripture makes that quite clear. God “will by no means leave the guilty unpunished” (Exodus 34:7). “The soul who sins will die” (Ezekiel 18:4). “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil” (Romans 2:9). Since the violation of God’s infinitely holy nature demands an infinite punishment, eternal condemnation can be the only just penalty for sin. Jesus said, “And these will go away into eternal punishment” (Matthew 25:46).

God takes no pleasure in punishing the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11). But it is the only response which is consistent with His holy nature. However, God loves sinners and since He finds no delight in punishing them, He has devised a plan by which they can be delivered from the just penalty of their sin.

Justice allows for one person to substitute for another, so long as no injustice is done to the rights of any person involved. So God provided a substitute. When His Son voluntarily offered Himself to die in our place, our sin was punished and God’s justice was forever satisfied. The Apostle Paul explained how God publicly displayed Jesus Christ as a propitiation and thus demonstrated His righteousness (Romans 3:25). A propitiation is a sacrifice that satisfies a justly pronounced sentence. Christ’s death on the cross completely satisfied God’s just judgment against our sin. The penalty has been paid. Now God can forgive the sins of those who will accept His payment, and still maintain His own justice. He can at the same time be both “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).

Justice also demands that when the penalty has been paid by one, it never needs to be paid by another who has accepted that payment. There can never be any condemnation for the person who has trusted Jesus Christ as Saviour from sin (Romans 8:1). The death of His sinless Son was sufficient to pay for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). Now those who accept His payment can go free. Who then can accuse God of injustice for condemning people to hell? He would be just if He assigned everyone to hell. Yet He satisfied His own justice and provided forgiveness for all. Those who refuse His forgiveness choose His wrath of their own volition. They have expressed their desire to live apart from God and He simply confirms them in their choice. That hardly can be labeled injustice.

What about those who have never heard? The Apostle Paul assured us that God has not left Himself without a witness in the world (Acts 14:17), and that lost men have willfully rejected His witness (Romans 1:18, 32). But whether or not we can explain every problem and answer every objection, we accept God’s revelation of Himself as a just God, and we believe Him when He says He will not act wickedly or pervert justice (Job 34:12).

Jehovah‑Tsidkenu (Jer. 23:6) "the Lord our righteousness"

Perfect Righteousness
Righteousness and justice are synonymous. Righteousness is holiness in action against sin. The holiness of God demands that sin be judged and the sinner punished. Such punishment is the righteousness and justice of God in action. Rom. 2:8-9; 2 Thess. 1:8) Righteousness is a holy God acting in a just and upright manner toward His creatures. The righteousness of God is His
holiness dealing justly with His creatures. This justice is seen in both punishment (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 1:32; 2:8-9) and reward (Rom. 2:7; Heb. 11:26; Deut. 7:9-13; Ps. 58:11; Matt. 25:21)

The scriptures attest to these statements.

a. All God’s ways are judgment. He is a God of truth and without iniquity, and He is just and right (Deut. 32:4).

b. The Judge of all the earth will do that which is right (Gen. 18:25). That he is Universally Righteous in all his administrations in the world. Psalm 145:17. The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.

c. The Lord judges with righteousness (Is. 11:4-5)

d. Righteousness belongs to the Lord (Dan. 9:7, 14)

e. The righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel. (Rom. 1:17)

f. True and righteous are the judgments of the Lord (Rev. 16:5-7)

g. The Lord is righteous. (2 Chron. 12:6; Ezra. 9:15; Nehm. 9:33; Is. 45:21; John 17:25)

h. Justice and judgment are the habitation of God’s throne. (Ps. 89:14)

i. Righteousness and true holiness are the characteristics of the new man being conformed to the image of God in Christ (Eph. 4:24)

Righteousness is that attribute of God which leads Him to always think and do what is right or act in perfect goodness in relation to men and angels.

In righteousness we have the manifestation of God’s love of holiness, of what is right and good. In justice, we have the manifestation of God’s hatred of sin. Habakkuk 1:13 expresses both.

The Manifestation of God’s Holiness in His Righteousness and Justice:

The following gives just a few of the ways God’s holiness is manifested in His righteous actions in His governmental dealings with man.

(1) It is manifested in His works. All that He made was good (Gen. 1:31), He created man upright and in God’s image (Gen. 1:26-27). Even Satan was created perfect and without sin until he turned in arrogant rebellion against God (Ezek. 28:15).

(2) It is manifested in the Law (Rom. 7:12) which is holy, pure, and good.

(3) It is manifested by God’s clear statements of His hatred of sin and His love of righteousness (Gen. 6:5-6; Prov. 6:16; 15:9, 26; Zech. 8:16-17; Jer. 44:4).

(4) It is manifested in His judgments against Israel and the nations for their rebellion against God (Deut. 28-30; Isa. 1-12).

(5) It is seen in the gift of God’s own Son to die on the cross for the sin of the world (Ps. 22:1-3; Eph. 5:25-27; Col. 1:20-22; 1 John 3:5, 7-8).

(6) It is seen in the separation of God Himself from the sinner (Hab. 1:13; Isa. 59:1-3).

(7) It is seen by the continual presence and work of Christ before God on behalf of the believer (Rom. 8:34; 1 John 1:7; 2:1-2).

(8) It is seen in the eternal punishment of the unbelieving sinner (Rev. 20:12-15; Matt. 25:41-46).

(9) It is seen in God who, as a holy Father, disciplines sin in His children to train them in holiness (Heb. 12:5-10).

Unlike men, God is not subject to anything outside of Himself. No one states this better than A.W. Tozer: The Knowledge of the Holy, pp. 93-94
It is sometimes said, ‘Justice requires God to do this,’ referring to some act we know He will perform. This is an error of thinking as well as of speaking, for it postulates a principle of justice outside of God which compels Him to act in a certain way. Of course there is no such principle. If there were it would be superior to God, for only a superior power can compel obedience. The truth is that there is not and can never be anything outside of the nature of God which can move Him in the least degree. All God’s reasons come from within His uncreated being. Nothing has entered the being of God from eternity, nothing has been removed, and nothing has been changed.

Justice, when used of God, is a name we give to the way God is, nothing more; and when God acts justly He is not doing so to conform to an independent criterion, but simply acting like Himself in a given situation. . . God is His own self-existent principle of moral equity, and when He sentences evil men or rewards the righteous, He simply acts like Himself from within, uninfluenced by anything that is not Himself.”

The righteousness of God is that perfection by which He maintains Himself as the Holy One over against every violation of His holiness. In virtue of it He maintains a moral government in the world and imposes a just law on man, rewarding obedience and punishing disobedience, Ps. 99:4; Isa. 33:22; Rom, 1:32. The justice of God which manifests itself in the giving of rewards is called His remunerative justice; and that which reveals itself in meting out punishment is known as His retributive justice. The former is really an expression of His love, and the latter of His wrath.

Attributes of God - Omnipresence

Adapted from "The Lord Is With Us” by Richard L. Strauss

Have you ever felt as if you wanted to run away from God? Maybe you thought the responsibilities of the Christian life were too heavy for you, or you just could not be the person you were supposed to be and do the things God was asking you to do. If you could just get away from Him for awhile, go someplace where He could not see you, then everything would be all right.

That is exactly what the prophet Jonah thought. God told him to go to the city of Nineveh and preach against its wickedness, but that was the last thing in the world Jonah wanted to do. “But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD” (Jonah 1:3). It is mentioned twice in that verse that Jonah wanted to get away from God’s presence, and it seems Jonah thought that Tarshish would be a good place to do this! Jonah should have known better. As a prophet in Israel he was certainly familiar with the Psalms of David:

Where can I go from Thy Spirit? Or where can I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Thy hand will lead me, And Thy right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” Even the darkness is not dark to Thee, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to Thee (Psalm 139:7-12).

Omnipresence means that God is all-present. He is unlimited by space or time. He is everywhere present at all times. He is present universally and simultaneously in all the universe, always. Omnipresence also involves immensity which means that God is present even beyond space. In His omnipresence He fills all things, but in His immensity of being, God is not limited to or by space. God is above and beyond space. Finite space depends upon Him for existence.

A. W. Tozer comments about God’s omnipresence:
“Few other truths are taught in the Scriptures with as great clarity as the doctrine of the divine omnipresence. Those passages supporting this truth are so plain that it would take considerable effort to misunderstand them. They declare that God is imminent in His creation, that there is no place in heaven or earth or hell where men may hide from His presence. They teach that God is at once far off and near, and that in Him men move and live and have their being.”

What Bible-believing Christian would challenge the truth that God is omnipresent? And yet I fear that while we believe this doctrine to be true to Scripture, we do not sense it to be true to life, a truth which applies to the way we live. But it does affect our daily lives!

This attribute of God is one of the most difficult for us to grasp with our finite minds. We can understand to some degree that God has infinite power and that He knows everything. But how can He be everywhere at once? The inability of the human mind to comprehend this doctrine may be one reason why so many people choose to worship some lesser being. They suspect that to be everywhere may really mean He is nowhere, and they want to worship a god who is somewhere, so they turn to a finite being or to an idol.

While I do not fully understand it, there is no question but that God claims omnipresence for Himself in His Word. David assured us that there was absolutely no place he could go to escape the presence of God, even if he wanted to.

Jeremiah proclaimed the same truth to the people of his day. The land was filled with dishonesty, profanity, and immorality, and the false prophets of the day were not only condoning it but actually participating in it (Jeremiah 23:11, 14). They assured the people that God would not judge them for their sin (verse 17). That is when God spoke through Jeremiah: Am I a God who is near, declares the LORD, And not a God far off? (verse 23) Those false prophets thought God did not know what they were doing and saying, that He was limited to one place at a time, that if He were near somebody else He could not be near them. Not so! Can a man hide himself in hiding places, So I do not see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill the heavens and the earth? declares the LORD (verse 24).

He fills Heaven and earth, just as fully present in one place as another. There is no conceivable place where God is not completely present in the totality of His essence. If there were any place where God was not present He could hardly have said that he fills Heaven and earth. But He said it and He meant it. Through Isaiah He said, “Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool” (Isaiah 66:1). There is no place to hide from His presence.

Solomon mentioned God’s omnipresence on the day that the temple was dedicated. It was a beautiful building where God would place His name, where He would personally dwell, and where He would meet with His people. But in Solomon’s majestic prayer of dedication he revealed a truth that we still misunderstand today. “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Thee, how much less this house which I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27) God would dwell in that temple but He would not be restricted to it. We cannot limit God to a building. We cannot even limit Him to a universe. God is everywhere. The Athenians ridiculed Paul on Mars Hill for daring to suggest the same thing. He had said, “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands” (Acts 17:24). He cannot be locked in a building. Since He is everywhere, He is not far from any one of us (verse 27). In fact, we live and move and exist in Him (verse 28). Each of us, believer and unbeliever alike, lives in God’s sphere and in God’s presence every minute. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said: 'The fundamental thing, the most serious thing of all, about God's omnipresence is that we are always in the presence of God'.

Philosophers since Paul’s day have not liked this doctrine any more than those on Mars Hill. They have devised interesting ways to pervert the truth. The pantheists have overemphasized God’s immanence. To them God is merely the impersonal forces and laws of nature. He is to be identified with the material universe, and consequently ends up being the trees, mountains, rivers, and sky rather than a personal, omnipresent being. The deists on the other hand, overemphasize God’s transcendence. For them, God is present in His creation only by His power, not in His being and nature. While He made the world He is not actively involved in governing it. He has left it to itself. The truth is that God is both immanent and transcendent. He is distinct from His creation yet present in every part of it, both in His power and in His essential being. God is everywhere! Augustine was right when he said this: “God is not partly here, or partly there, but He is totally present at every point of the universe”.

Yet the Bible will not let us suppose that God is present in exactly the same sense everywhere. For example, He does not dwell on earth in the same sense that He dwells in Heaven (Matthew 6:9). He did not dwell in Gentile nations in the same sense He dwelled with His ancient people Israel (Exodus 25:8; 40:34). He did not dwell with the Old Testament Jew in the same sense that He dwells with the New Testament Christian (John 14:17). He does not dwell with the unbeliever in the same sense He dwells with the believer (John 14:23). And He does not dwell with the believer now in the same sense He will dwell with him in eternity (Revelation 21:3).

Jonah soon found out that David, the psalmist, was right all along. God is everywhere, and there is no way that we can hide from His presence. He went down into the hold of the ship, and God was there. He was thrown into the raging sea, and God was there. He was swallowed by a great fish, and he discovered that along with the tangled seaweed, stifling heat, and burning acids, God was there. Then he was vomited out on dry land and found that God was there. He finally decided that the smartest thing would be to obey a God who was everywhere. He would have saved himself a great deal of grief had he remembered that truth from the very beginning.

That seems to be one of our great weaknesses too. We hear these truths and believe them, but we tend to forget them when we need them. We become oblivious to God’s presence and begin to live our lives as though He were nowhere around. Jacob had that problem. He was running from his brother’s wrath when he stopped for a night’s rest at Bethel. During the night he had a dream about a ladder. The Lord stood above it and said, “And behold, I am with you, and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you” (Genesis 28:15). God was with Jacob and would not leave him, but he did not realize it. The record states, “Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it’” (verse 16).

Isn’t that just like us? The eternal, changeless, all-powerful, all-knowing, sovereign God of the universe is with us and we are not even aware of it. We ignore Him. Let’s remind ourselves of some of the places God specifically promised to go with us, then begin to acknowledge His presence in those situations, and learn to share them with Him. Thomas Brooks, the puritan said: “God is an infinite circle whose centre is everywhere, and whose circumference is nowhere”.

Other Scriptures which illustrate the fact of God’s omnipresence are listed below:

Where two or three gather in the name of the Lord, His presence is there (Matt 18:20; 28:18-20)

The whole earth is full of the glory of the Lord (Is. 6:3)

God fills all things. “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church) which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way" (Eph. 1:22-23).

God’s presence is with all believers everywhere (Ex. 3:12; 33:14; Is. 43:2)

Heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain God (2 Chron. 6:18; 1 Kings 8:27; Is. 66:1; 2 Chron. 2:6)

Wherever man would seek to go from God, be it heaven, earth, or Sheol, God’s presence will fill them. ( Amos 9:2-4)

"He is before all things, and in him all things hold together" (Col. 1:17).

Early Church Creeds (Part 1)

Creed \'kreed\
[ME crede, from OE creeda, from Latin credo ("I believe" the first word of the Apostles' and Nicene creeds), from credere to believe, trust, entrust]

1: a brief authoritative formula of religious belief
2: a set of fundamental beliefs
3: a guiding principle

The Creeds and Confessions produced by the Christian Church over the centuries are not inspired additions to Scripture nor in any way replacements for the words of Christ and his apostles or the prophets which preceded them. Instead these human documents are carefully considered and usually thoughtfully worded responses to various issues, heresies and historical situations that have troubled the Church and the world over the centuries. Creeds are statements of faith that are true and authoritative insofar as they accurately reflect what Scripture teaches. Those linked here have been found useful either by the entire Church or by important segments and/or denominations of it over the ages. They are thus helpful "measuring sticks" for orthodoxy. Canons but not the canon.

Some have said the creeds are man made and hence should be ignored in favor of Scripture. Should we then dispose of all sermons, Bible study texts, commentaries, doctrinal outlines, books on theology, devotionals, et cetera? Certainly not! The creeds do not masquerade as Scripture and many specifically point out that it is the Scriptures themselves which are "the only infallible rule of faith and practice." Yet as Christians is it not valuable to consider how the Holy Spirit has spoken to our brothers and sisters over the millennia as they have struggled with various issues, poured over the Scriptures and often fasted and prayed heartily with their fellow Christians in the light of the inspired texts? Surely, to quote the pulpit prince C. H. Spurgeon to his students,

"you are not such wiseacres as to think or say that you can expound the Scripture without the assistance from the works of divine and learned men who have labored before you in the field of exposition . . . . It seems odd that certain men who talk so much of what the Holy Spirit reveals to themselves, should think so little of what he has revealed to others." (Commenting and Commentaries)

Even if we reject some of their insights at least we should pause to consider what they have gleaned from Holy Writ and how their historical situation influenced their Biblical interpretations. Let us remember the words of Peter when he said, "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." (2 Peter 1:20-21 KJV)

Creeds in the Bible
The following scripture passages are considered by many to be creeds or declarations of faith. These are taken from both Lieth's Schaff's books:

Deut. 6:4: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

1 Kings. 18:39: And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, "The LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God."

Matt. 16:16: Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Matt. 28:19: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

John 1:49: Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"

John 6:68-69: Simon Peter answered him, "Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."

John 20:28: Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"

Acts 8:36-37: And as they went along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "See, here is water! What is to prevent my being baptized?" And Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he replied, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

Acts 16:31: And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."

1 Cor. 8:6: yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

1 Cor. 12:3: Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus is accursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except in the Holy Spirit.

1 Cor. 15:3-7: For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

Phil. 2:6-11: who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

1 Tim. 3:16: Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory..

Hebr. 6:1-2: Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, with instruction about ablutions, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

1John 4:2: By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God.

Early Church Creeds
There are also several early summaries of the Christian faith which predate the creeds, such as the "Rule of Faith" as recorded by Irenaeus:

". . . this faith: in one God, the Father Almighty, who made the heaven and the earth and the seas and all the things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who was made flesh for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who made known through the prophets the plan of salvation, and the coming, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the bodily ascension into heaven of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and his future appearing from heaven in the glory of the Father to sum up all things and to raise anew all flesh of the whole human race . . ."

And Hippolytus's account of the baptismal service:

"When the person being baptized goes down into the water, he who baptizes him, putting his hand on him, shall say: "Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty?" And the person being baptized shall say: "I believe." Then holding his hand on his head, he shall baptize him once. And then he shall say: "Do you believe in Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who was born of the Virgin Mary, and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and was dead and buried, and rose again the third day, alive from the dead, and ascended into heaven, and sat at the right hand of the Father, and will come to judge the living and the dead?" And when he says: "I believe," he is baptized again. And again he shall say: "Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, in the holy church, and the resurrection of the body?" The person being baptized shall say: "I believe," and then he is baptized a third time."

-- Hippolytus, early third century, Both the Rule as recorded by Iranaeus and the baptismal service as recorded by Hippolytus bear very close similarity to the Apostles' Creed, which will be the subject of our next discussion.

Attributes of God - Mercy

The Lord passed before him, and proclaimed "The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin… Ex 34:6-7

As we continue on our survey of the Attributes of God, we come now to His mercy. We need to remember that all of these attributes are not separate, but are in fact interrelated to one another. As the last attribute we looked at was God’s power(or Omnipotence), Charles Spurgeon relates it to God's mercy: "This tender attribute sweetens the grand thought of His power: the divine strength will not crush us, but will be used for our good."

“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" (Ps. 145:9): "He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things" (Acts 17:25). God has upon the brute creation in their needs, and supplies them with suitable provision. Second, there is a special mercy of God, which is exercised toward the children of men, helping and succouring 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). Third, 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.” AW Pink

There are many Scriptures that speak of God’s mercy:

Ps 6:4 — Return, O Lord, deliver! Oh, save me for Your mercies' sake!
Lamentations 3:22-23. It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Heb 4:16 — Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Rom 9:23-24 — And that he might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

Eph 2:4,5 — “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)”.

Titus 3:5 — Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.

1 Pet 1:3 — Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a loving hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Mercy (eleos in Greek) is the outward manifestation of pity. Mercy refers to the outward manifestation of pity and assumes need on the part of those who receive it and sufficient resources to meet the need on the part of those who show it.

Eleos is found 27 times in the NT, and is translated as compassion twice, and mercy, 25 times. In contrast eleos is used over 170 times in the OT (Septuagint) with 91 of those uses being in the Psalms where it most often translates the Hebrew word for "lovingkindness" (hesed) a very prominent word in the OT (used some 248 times) which is defined as not merely an attitude or an emotion but an emotion that leads to an activity beneficial to the recipient. William Barclay noted the Hebrew word (hesed) for "merciful" has the idea of "the ability to get right inside the other person's skin until we can see things with his eyes, think things with his mind, and feel things with his feelings."

Related to mercy is the concept of misery. There is no mercy bestowed without the object of that mercy being in a miserable state. Jonathan Edwards declares, “that it is God’s manner to make men sensible of their misery and unworthiness before he appears in his mercy and love to them. . . . The mercy of God, which he shows to a sinner when he brings him home to the Lord Jesus Christ, is the greatest and most wonderful exhibition of mercy and love, of which men are ever the subjects.”

Nowhere is the essence of mercy unveiled for us any more clearly than in our Lord’s parable of the good Samaritan. The victim in that story was miserable. He had been beaten, robbed, and left for dead. The priest and the Levite in the story showed no concern for him whatsoever. “But a certain Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion” (Luke 10:33). The word most often translated “mercy” in the King James Version conveys strong feelings of pity, sympathy, compassion, and affection. The Old Testament word is sometimes translated “lovingkindness” in the King James, and that describes one important aspect of mercy. When God looks at suffering people, He feels love, tenderness, and kindness toward them in their need.

When we read that God is merciful or that He has mercy, we may be assured that He is feeling our misery just as intensely as we are. As the writer to the Hebrews taught us, the reason we can come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need is because the occupant of that throne is a merciful high priest who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, who sympathizes with us in our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15-16). Those feelings are the foundation of His mercy.

But mercy does not stop with tender feelings. It acts to relieve the misery. In our Lord’s parable, the Samaritan “came to [the victim], and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return, I will repay you’” (Luke 10:34-35). The Samaritan’s compassionate feelings led him to a practical demonstration of kindness, concrete actions which were intended to relieve the man’s misery and distress. When Jesus asked which one of the three passersby was the true neighbor to the victim, the lawyer to whom He was speaking answered immediately, “The one who showed mercy toward him” (verse 37). He used that term mercy to sum up those feelings of steadfast love which were followed by helpful acts of kindness.

Because God is full of mercy, He acts to relieve our distress. Psalm 136 is a good place to see some of the merciful things He does. The whole psalm magnifies God’s mercy. Every one of its twenty-six verses tells us something about God, then concludes, “for His mercy endureth for ever” (KJV). First His goodness is mentioned, then His acts of creation, then His relationship with His people Israel. He delivered them from their Egyptian oppressors (verses 10-12). He took them safely through the Red Sea (verses 13-15). He led them through the wilderness (verse 16). He gave them victory over powerful kings who threatened to destroy them (verses 17-20). He brought them at last into their promised land (verses 21 22). But the Psalmist gets to the heart of God’s mercy in the next two verses. God remembered them in their low estate, in their miserable and humiliating condition, and He delivered them (verses 23-24). Mercy is God’s tender compassion toward us in our distress that causes Him to act on our behalf and relieve our suffering, at the time and in the manner which He knows will be best.

It is important to keep in mind the idea that God does not have to give us mercy, He simply does. “For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION." So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God Who has mercy.” Rom 9:15-16. John Piper stated in his exposition of Exodus 32, “It is the glory of God to be gracious to whomever he pleases apart from any constraint originating outside his own will. Or another way to put it would be that sovereign FREEDOM is essential to God's name.”

One needs to distinguish between grace and mercy. Grace is shown to the undeserving, while mercy is compassion to the miserable. Grace is God’s solution to man’s sin. Mercy is God’s solution to man’s misery. Grace covers the sin, while mercy removes the pain. Grace forgives, while mercy restores. Grace gives us what we don’t deserve while mercy withholds what we do deserve.

Grace is getting what we do not deserve.Justice is getting what we do deserve.Mercy is not getting what we do deserve.

Thomas Goodwin exhorts us: “You that have received this mercy from God, show mercy to others. Use all that is within you so as to endeavor to beget men to God. Though God alone does it, yet he uses means; though means contribute nothing, yet God uses them as the clay to open the eyes. Have you a friend who lives with you, perhaps a student or brother who is unconverted? Oh, if you have received mercy from God, endeavor to bring them in to obtain like mercy with yourself.”

Attributes of God - Omnipotence

Omnipotence means that God is all-powerful, that His power is unlimited, that God has the ability to do whatever He pleases with or without secondary means (directly or indirectly), but what He pleases is always in harmony with God’s perfections, nature, and Person.

In God’s power, there is both authority and ability to perform. In man, there may be authority but no ability to perform as when the rightful king of a nation is deposed, or there may be no authority but there may be power as in a rebel king who, because of the forces at his disposal, usurps the authority of the rightful king. In Matthew 28:18, Christ said “all authority (exousia, means “authority to act,” and “power, ability to act”) has been given to me in heaven and earth.” Christ, as the glorified God-Man Savior, was claiming His omnipotence to enable the body of Christ to carry out its mission in the world throughout the ages.

God has the absolute power to perform any miracle in a person’s life if He so chooses, but because of His wisdom, love, and purposes, He may choose not to do so. In the above illustration regarding the Savior, God could have easily destroyed Christ’s enemies and delivered Him from the cross, but in the wisdom and mercy of God, it was His will for Christ, His Son, to die on the cross for the sin of the world to provide us with eternal life and fulfill the hope and promises of Scripture.

God’s power is such that He can do whatever He pleases without difficulty and resistance. Though Satan and man may attempt to resist it, God’s power cannot be checked, restrained, or frustrated. Having reminded stubborn Israel who had resisted God’s will that Yahweh alone was God and there was none to compare with Him, the Lord made this declaration to the nation:
Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; (emphasis mine)

Just as He can do all things possible with regard to the object, so He can do all things easily as to the manner. He can do all things without the use of any means or instrument by the simple exercise of His will and without effort.

Isaiah 40:28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.

Isaiah 45:12 It is I who made the earth, and created man upon it. I stretched out the heavens with My hands, And I ordained all their host.

Whereas man needs matter or material to work with, God needs nothing. He can create out of nothing by the exercise of His will as He did in Genesis one, or He can create out of something as He did when He created man from the dust of the earth (cf. Heb. 11:3; 1:3). God needs no blueprint to work from, no time to work in, and no instruments to work with. However, in connection with this, it is important to remember that God has chosen to use secondary causes or means. As Hebrews 11:3 asserts, creation was accomplished without means other than the voice of God, but our salvation was accomplished through the instrumentation of the God-Man Savior’s death on the cross. Indeed, even the crucifixion was accomplished by human means.
Acts 2:23 this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.

Omnipotence does not imply the exercise of all His power. He has power over His power. Though His power is limitless, it is always under the control of His holy and wise will. Or to put this another way, God’s power is subordinate to His wisdom, will, and holy character. God can do all He wishes to do, but He will not do all He could do. All things with God are possible; God can do anything, but He will only do what His infinite wisdom, holiness, and love dictate.

God cannot do that which would contradict His own holy character or essence.
(1) He cannot annihilate Himself because He is eternal, immutable, and all wise. He cannot lie because He is absolute truth (Titus 1:2; Heb. 6:18).
(2) He cannot go back on His Word because He is faithful (2 Tim. 2:13).
(3) He cannot be tempted because He is absolute holiness, He is self-sufficient and needs nothing (Jam. 1:13).
(4) Sin is imperfection and it would be contradictory to say that the perfect One could be imperfect. To say that the perfect One cannot be imperfect, is not really putting a limitation of God.

Psalm 62:11 speaks of the lovingkindness of God who recompenses men for their work, but it is the power of God that he has heard of the most, mentioned in verse 11, that gives the Psalmist the assurance of the action of God’s mercy and reward.
Once God has spoken; Twice I have heard this: That power belongs to God; And lovingkindness is Thine, O Lord, For Thou dost recompense a man according to his work.
This Psalm brings us another point concerning God’s omnipotence. God’s power, as with all His perfections, stems from the nature of God and is totally independent within Him as the eternal I Am. A king may have authority in his person to command his kingdom, but he does not contain sufficient power within himself to rule without the aid of others to enforce his will. But God’s power is not derived from anything outside of Himself. As Psalm 62:11 declares, “power belongs to God (i.e., alone).”

After the mystery of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream had been revealed to Daniel, Daniel clearly acknowledged this important fact about God as the source of all power in his praise to the God of heaven. First, he said, “… for wisdom and power belong to Him (i.e., God),” but later in his praise, he said this, “… for Thou hast given me wisdom and power; Even now Thou hast made known to me what we requested of Thee” (Dan. 2:20 and 23). All other power in the universe regardless of its nature is derived power, power derived from God who is the source of all power. Therefore, God is sovereign and I can depend on Him regardless of what powers in the world I may face. A wonderful illustration of this is found in the action of Daniel’s friends when faced with the fiery furnace when they refused to worship the image of Nebuchadnezzar. Their response to the power of the king to throw them into the fiery furnace was:
Daniel 3:16-18 Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. 17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
The king’s power was a derived power and these godly Jews knew that God’s power could overrule if that was His will and purpose. They rested in God’s power according to His wisdom and purposes. Note how they did not presume upon God’s power, but rested in the wisdom of God.

The omnipotence of God is a wonderful ground of trust and confidence for the believer in the reliability of the Scriptures and its many promises, in the truth of the resurrection, in the miracles of the Bible, and in God’s provision and care for believers in every realm of life. So it was that the Apostle, knowing and experiencing the greatness of God’s power, prayed that we might know what is the surpassing greatness of His power towards us who believe.
Ephesians 1:18-23 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (NIV)

Still, with God’s powerful Word in our hands and with the experience of His power in our lives, God’s power is so great that, according to Ephesians 3:20, God is able to do beyond all we can ask or think according to the power at work in us, of course, all to the glory of God.
Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,

A highly simplistic definition of "power" would be that it is the ability to produce effects, or to accomplish what one wills. The Scriptures clearly affirm not only that God has such an ability but that he has it without limitations. Hence, we speak of God as being omnipotent, infinite in power.

His "power is vast" (Job 9:4). He is "the Lord strong and mighty" (Ps. 24:8), "great and awesome" (Deut. 7:21), "the Lord Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel" (Isa. 1:24). "Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the father's sins into the laps of their children after them. O great and powerful God, whose name is the Lord Almighty, great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds" (Jer. 32:17-19a). Creation is a testimony to "his great power and mighty strength" (Isa. 40:26). He is Lord, Owner, Ruler, and King of all creation, whom none can resist or overpower (Matt. 11:25; Rev. 1:8; Ps. 29:10; Jer. 10:7,10). He is "the Lord Almighty" (2 Cor. 6:18; Rev. 4:8; 11:17), "the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords" (1 Tim. 6:15). Nothing is too difficult for him; all things are within his power (Gen. 18:14; Zech. 8:6; Jer. 32:27).

We cannot have a right conception of God unless we think of Him as all-powerful, as well as all-wise. 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. (S. Charnock).

Power is also used as a name of God, the Son of man sitting at 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).

What is meant by a goodness that has not physical power? Is not "goodness" in itself the merest abstraction? Is it not altogether without meaning except as belonging to a person? And does not the very notion of a person involve the power to act? Goodness divorced from power is therefore no goodness at all. The truth is that overmuch abstraction has here destroyed even that which is intended to be conserved. Make God good and not powerful, and both God and goodness have been destroyed. (J. Gresham Machen)

Attributes of God - Longsuffering

Longsuffering or patience is a Divine title for God, Paul referring to Him as the "God of patience" (Ro 15:5).

God is patient or long-suffering and not at all unreasonable in His dealings with sinful, rebellious mankind. In the Old Testament, God is repeatedly described as "slow to anger". God's longsuffering is that power which He exercises over Himself, allowing Him to bear with sinners, forbearing long in punishing them. Nahum in his oracle against Nineveh records that "The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. In whirlwind and storm is His way, and clouds are the dust beneath His feet." (Nahum 1:3)

The Puritan Stephen Charnock contrasts this "slow to anger" attribute of God with men, writing that "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."

The Greek word "makrothumos" translates the Hebrew phrase "slow to anger" in Nahum 1:3 and provides added insights into God's longsuffering. Makrothumos is derived from makros meaning long and thumos meaning wrath or anger, which is literally a "long anger." What a picture of God's patience -- His anger has a "slow burn" or a "long fuse" so to speak. Makrothumos emphasizes God's restraint even in the face of actions and circumstances that clearly arouse His holy wrath. God remains controlled even when confronted with presumptuous, bold faced provocation! God's longsuffering is not only slow to anger but also slow to punish! It is interesting to note that longsuffering is the first quality mentioned in Paul's definition of "love" - "Love is patient (makrothumeo, the verb form)..." (1 Cor 13:4) This same Greek word group (makrothumos, makrothumeo, makrothumía) translates "slow to anger" in many OT passages (see below).

Ex 34:6 the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger

Nu 14:18 'The LORD is slow to anger

Neh 9:17 But Thou art a God of forgiveness...Slow to anger

Ps 86:15But Thou, O Lord, art a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.

Ps 103:8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger

Ps 145:8 The LORD is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger

Joel 2:13 Now return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness, and relenting of evil.

Jonah 4:2 Thou art a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger

God's longsuffering was strikingly displayed toward sinners prior to the Flood. In Genesis Jehovah declared that His "Spirit (would) not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." (Gen 6:3) In other words God gave all of corrupt mankind a "reprieve" of 120 years before He brought irrevocable judgment via the worldwide Flood. Peter recording that the world was "disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water." (1 Pet 3:20)

In Numbers 14, Israel had spurned Jehovah, refusing to believe His promise of a promised land, thus prompting Him to decree that He would "smite them with pestilence" and then would make Moses "into a nation greater and mightier" (Nu 14:11-12). Moses' interceded with Him, basing his appeal on the fact that Jehovah was "slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression" (Nu 14:18), the very phrase that God had earlier applied to Himself when He passed in front of Moses declaring Himself as "Jehovah, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; Who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, Who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin..." (Ex 34:6-7)

Luke adds that "in the generations gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying (their) hearts with food and gladness.” (Acts 14:16-17)
In His longsuffering God did all of this even though most of mankind "did not honor Him as God or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened...and (they) exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures...(and) they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." (Ro 1:21-23, 25) Paul further emphasized the restraining aspect of God's patience asking the rhetorical question "What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?" (Ro 9:22)

God could have justly destroyed every sinner (which is all of us) the first time (and every time) they sinned (which we all do!). Instead He patiently endured (and continues to endure) rebellion rather than giving sinners what every sin deserves (immediately) -- eternal punishment! God continues to endure the unbelief, rejection, hatred, blasphemy, and iniquity, while patiently allowing time for repentance, Peter writing that "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance...15 and regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you" (2 Pet 3:9,15)

Note that although God's patience may be related to mercy, it is distinguished from it in Scripture, the Psalmist declaring "Thou, O Lord, art a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth." (Ps 86:15)

However since the longsuffering of God is a display of His mercy, it may not always be easy to discriminate between the two.

The Puritan, Stephen Charnock, has defined God's patience as "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” (Ps 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."

The TDNT entry adds that "The wrath and the grace of God are the two poles which constitute the span of His longsuffering."

“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 usward” (2 Peter 3:9). Since this Divine attribute is manifested only in this world, God takes advantage to display it toward “His own.” AW Pink.

Attributes of God - Holiness

“Who is like Thee among the gods, O LORD? Who is like Thee, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders?" (Exodus 15:11).
As we approach the subject of the holiness of God, let us be mindful of the importance of this divine attribute.

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 (Steven Charnock).

To be holy is to be distinct, separate, in a class by oneself. As RC Sproul puts it:
“The primary meaning of holy is ‘separate.’ It comes from an ancient word that meant, ‘to cut,’ or ‘to separate.’ Perhaps even more accurate would be the phrase ‘a cut above something.’ When we find a garment or another piece of merchandise that is outstanding, that has a superior excellence, we use the expression that it is ‘a cut above the rest.’”

This means that the one who is holy is uniquely holy, with no rivals or competition.

“When the Bible calls God holy it means primarily that God is transcendentally separate. He is so far above and beyond us that He seems almost totally foreign to us. To be holy is to be ‘other,’ to be different in a special way. The same basic meaning is used when the word holy is applied to earthly things.”

The Scriptures put it this way:
“There is no one holy like the LORD, Indeed, there is no one besides Thee, Nor is there any rock like our God" (1 Samuel 2:2).

8 There is no one like Thee among the gods, O Lord; Nor are there any works like Thine. 9 All nations whom Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord; And they shall glorify Thy name. 10 For Thou art great and doest wondrous deeds; Thou alone art God (Psalms 86:8-10; see also Psalm 99:1-3; Isaiah 40:25; 57:15)

For God to be holy is for Him to be holy in relation to every aspect of His nature and character. As Sproul says:
“When we use the word holy to describe God, we face another problem. We often describe God by compiling a list of qualities or characteristics that we call attributes. We say that God is a spirit, that He knows everything, that He is loving, just, merciful, gracious, and so on. The tendency is to add the idea of the holy to this long list of attributes as one attribute among many. But when the word holy is applied to God, it does not signify one single attribute. On the contrary, God is called holy in a general sense. The word is used as a synonym for his deity. That is, the word holy calls attention to all that God is. It reminds us that His love is holy love, his justice is holy justice, his mercy is holy mercy, his knowledge is holy knowledge, his spirit is holy spirit.”

God’s holiness is manifested in His works. "The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works" (Ps. 145:17). Only excellence can proceed from Him. Holiness is the rule of all His actions. 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 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" (Ezek. 28:15).
God’s holiness is manifested in His law. 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 forever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether" (Ps. 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 must sin be to God for Him to punish it to its utmost deserts when it was imputed to His Son!” AW Pink
Because God is holy He hates all sin.

“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 "(Ps. 5:5). And again, "God is angry with the wicked every day" (Ps. 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.” AW Pink

(1) The holiness of God should guide and govern our thinking on “God’s acceptance.”
The church cannot “accept” those who profess to be Christians but live like pagans (1 Corinthians 5:1-13). We must discipline and remove those who refuse to live like Christians. The church is to be holy, and this means purging out the “leaven” from its midst.

(2) The doctrine of the holiness of God needs to considered when we speak of accountability.
The concept of “accountability” has, in my opinion, been imported from the secular world. I am not entirely opposed to accountability, except that the church sometimes speaks more of accountability to men than of accountability to God. Let us not forget to whom we must give account:
12 So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God (Romans 14:12).
4 And in [all] this, they are surprised that you do not run with [them] into the same excess of dissipation, and they malign [you]; 5 but they shall give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead (1 Peter 4:4-5).

(3) The holiness of God should govern our thinking about self-esteem.
5 “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5)?
I fear our whole orientation is wrong, and we come to Christ to feel better about ourselves rather than falling before Him in humility and awe at His holiness. Our hearts should be filled with gratitude and praise for the grace He has bestowed on us. It is the self-righteous who stand upright before God confident in who they are, not the saints who are confident in who He is (see Luke 9-14).

(4) The appropriate response to the holiness of God is fear (reverence), and the outworking of fear is obedience.
The fear of the Lord is the result of grasping His holiness. So too it is the source of much that is good. Fear is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7). It causes us to hate and to avoid evil (8:13; 16:6). It is also the basis for strong confidence (14:26). It is a fountain of life (14:27). The holiness of God is the root of many wonderful fruits, springing forth from a heart which has come to reverence God as the Holy One.

(5) The holiness of God is the basis and the compelling necessity for our sanctification.
The holiness of God is the reason we too are commanded to live holy lives:
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts [which were yours] in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all [your] behavior; 16 because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.” 17 And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each man’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay [upon earth]; 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, [the blood] of Christ (1 Peter 1:14-19).
Because God is holy, we who are His people must be holy too. Holiness is our calling (Ephesians 1:4; Romans 8:29; 1 Thessalonians 4:3). We must practice and proclaim His excellencies to the world (1 Peter 2:9), and prominent among God’s excellencies is His holiness.

(6) The holiness of God makes the gospel a glorious necessity.
As I think of the holiness of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ (not to exclude the Holy Spirit), I am all the more awe-struck by the cross of Calvary. I have often thought of the agony of our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemene. Usually, I think of His agony in terms of His horror at the thought of enduring the wrath of the Father, the wrath we deserve. But this study of the holiness of God has impressed me with the revulsion which a holy God has toward sin—toward our sin. And yet, despising sin as a holy God must, the Lord Jesus took all the sins of the world upon Himself as He went to Calvary. Jesus was not only agonizing over the wrath of the Father, He was agonizing over the sin He would bear on our behalf. What a wonderful Savior!

Attributes of God - Self Existence

Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. PSALM 90:2

When we open the first page of the Bible, we read simply, “In the beginning God.” God is just there! And look at what He is doing—creating the heavens and the earth. He existed before all things and He Himself brought everything else into existence. If anybody existed before God and was responsible for making God, then He would be God, and we would have to begin our questioning all over again. Who made Him?

The self-existence of God does not mean that He brought Himself into existence. He did not come into being; He simply is. When Moses asked for a God’s name, from God to the children of Israel, God replied, "I AM THAT I AM": and he said, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you" (Exodus 3:14). The verb, AM, is simply another form of "to be" (indicating the being of God) or "is." The question is not how God came into being because He is the great I AM. God by definition is that being who exists in and of Himself.

This self-existence is seen in other passages as well. In John 5:26 Jesus says, "the Father hath life in himself." That is, the life of God comes from God. You and I cannot say that, and no other being can say that. Self-existence is one of the unique characteristics of God. Of Him scripture declares, "Who only hath immortality" (1Timothy 6:16). Only God has full control over His own existence. Even when God came as the God- an in the form of Jesus Christ, He could not simply be killed. Of His life, Jesus testified, "I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again" (John 10:17-18).

God powerfully proclaims His own existence in Deuteronomy 32:40 - "For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever." Coming from anyone other than God, this would be the ravings of a madman. From God, it is simply the truth. Seven times in the Bible, God declares Himself to be the first and the last (Isaiah 41:4; 44:6; 48:12; Revelation 1:11, 17; 2:8; 22:13). Nothing came before Him and nothing will exist beyond Him.

God’s self-existence is a basic truth. At the outset of his presentation of the unknown God to the Athenian idolaters, Paul explained that this God, the world’s Creator, “is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else” (Acts 17:23-25). Sacrifices offered to idols, in today’s tribal religions as in ancient Athens, are thought of as somehow keeping the god going, but the Creator needs no such support system. The word aseity, meaning that he has life in himself and draws his unending energy from himself (a se in Latin means “from himself”), was coined by theologians to express this truth, which the Bible makes clear (Pss. 102:25-27; Isa. 40:28-31; John 5:26; Rev. 4:10).

In theology, endless mistakes result from supposing that the conditions, bounds, and limits of our own finite existence apply to God. The doctrine of his aseity stands as a bulwark against such mistakes. In our life of faith, we easily impoverish ourselves by embracing an idea of God that is too limited and small, and again the doctrine of God’s aseity stands as a bulwark to stop this happening. It is vital for spiritual health to believe that God is great (cf. Ps. 95:1-7), and grasping the truth of his aseity is the first step on the road to doing this. JI Packer

The self-existence of God is incomprehensible and a profound mystery to the human mind, but its truth should bring comfort and stability to the human heart to know that our God exists independently of all things and is always there for His people.

This means that God exists independently of any cause. God exists from Himself, He has always existed, and will exist forever, and no one has caused His existence, nor can any one make it to cease. There is simply no cause of His existence outside of Himself. God’s existence is necessary, not contingent on something else. He exists by His own being. The basis of His existence is not in His will (to exist), but in His divine nature. God does not exist because He wants to, but because His very nature demands that He exist.

God’s self-existence means that he is not answerable to us or to anybody, and we don’t like that. We want God to give an account of himself, to defend his actions. Although he sometimes explains things to us, he doesn’t have to and often he does not. God doesn’t have to explain himself to anybody.

He is not only “from everlasting” but also “to everlasting” (cf. Psalm 102:25-27). He has brought some other things into existence as well that will have no end, such as angels and human souls. That is great news for believers. We shall someday enter fully into the eternal life we already possess in Christ. All time pressures will be gone and we shall be able to relax with total joy and delight in the presence of the eternal God who made us for Himself. People who are rightly related to an eternal God will obviously enjoy Him eternally. As the Psalmist put it, “For this God is our God for ever and ever” (Psalm 48:14 KJV).

Attributes of God - Immutability

The Westminster Confession of faith states the following (1643-46)
“There is but one only, living, and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts or passions; immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will, for His own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek”

Immutability defined: The perfection of God by which He is devoid of all change in essence, attributes, consciousness, will, and promises. No change is possible in God, because all change must be to better or worse, and God is absolute perfection. No cause for change in God exists, either in Himself or outside of Him.

Everything else in creation is subject to change except the Creator, for He, as God, will not change:
12 But Thou, O LORD dost abide forever; And Thy name to all generations. . . 25 Of old Thou didst found the earth; And the heavens are the work of Thy hands. 26 Even they will perish, but Thou dost endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing Thou wilt change them, and they will be changed. 27 But Thou art the same, And Thy years will not come to an end. 28 The children of Thy servants will continue, And their descendants will be established before Thee” (Psalm 102:12, 25-28, emphasis mine).

6 “For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed” (Malachi 3:6, emphasis mine).

The immutability of God is a significant part of our hope, for He who has promised to judge sin is the same God who has promised to save us from our sins by judging sin in the person and work of Jesus Christ, His Son.

7 “Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever. 9 Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were thus occupied were not benefited” (Hebrews 13:7-9). This statement is very important, for it is a claim of deity. Only God is immutable; only He cannot and does not change. For the writer to tell us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever is to remind us that He is God.

“Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow” (James 1:17).

But what about the idea of God “repenting?” Doesn’t that disprove Immutability?
AW Pink explains it thus:
“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 1 Samuel 15:19, "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" (Ps. 78:65), as "rising 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."

Why is it important for God not to change? If God could change in His being, just what kind of God would He be? Maybe we would wake up one day and find out that God is evil. Or how could we ever trust Him if He could change in His purpose? Or His promises? How would we ever be assured of our salvation? Will the wicked ever be punished, as God has said? No my friends, God HAS NOT, WILL NOT EVER CHANGE.

“Yes God, God don't never change
He's God, always will be God
God in the pulpit
God way down at the door
He's God in the Amen Corner
God all over the floor
Well he's God, God don't never change
God, always will be God”
(Blind Willie Johnson)

Winter Backyard Pics

Attributes of God

Why Study the Attributes of God?

Throughout history, great men of God have devoted themselves to the study of God’s character and encouraged others to do likewise. Consider what some of those men of God have to say about studying the attributes of God.

Over 40 years ago, A. W. Tozer wrote(In The Knowledge of the Holy) concerning the desperate need for the church to revise its concept of God due to a very distorted conception of Him:
"It is my opinion that the Christian conception of God current in these middle years of the twentieth century is so decadent as to be utterly beneath the dignity of the Most High God and actually to constitute for professed believers something amounting to a moral calamity"
Tozer goes on to say,
"The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of Him—and of her."

A. W. Pink is of the same opinion:
"The god of this century no more resembles the Sovereign of Holy Writ than does the dim flickering of a candle the glory of the midday sun. The god who is 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 a figment of human imagination, an invention of maudlin sentimentality. The heathen outside the pale of Christendom form gods of wood and stone, while millions of heathen inside Christendom manufacture a god out of their carnal minds."

In one of his letters to Erasmus, Martin Luther said, “Your thoughts of God are too human.” Speaking for God, the psalmist of old penned the same thought in these words:
21 These things you have done, and I kept silence; You thought that I was just like you; I will reprove you, and state [the case] in order before your eyes (Psalms 50:21).

It would be difficult to over-estimate the importance of the study of God. Spurgeon’s words are often quoted by those who embark upon a study of the attributes of God:
"Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued, investigation of the great subject of the Deity. The most excellent study for expanding the soul is the science of Christ and Him crucified and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity.”

The proper study of the Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the doings, and the existence of the great God which he calls his Father. There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can comprehend and grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go on our way with the thought, “Behold I am wise.” But when we come to this master science, finding that our plumbline cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought “I am but of yesterday and know nothing.”

Again, AW Pink:
"Something more than a theoretical knowledge of God is needed by us. God is only truly known in the soul as we yield ourselves to Him, submit to His authority, and regulate all the details of our lives by His holy precepts and commandments. "Then shall we know, if we follow on (in the path of obedience) to know the Lord" (Hosea 6:3). "If any man will do His will, he shall know" (John 7:17). "The people that do know their God shall be strong" (Dan. 11:32)."

But is the study of God’s character not just a matter for preachers and theologians? Does such a study really have any practical value? J. I. Packer raises this very question and promptly answers it:

"Why need anyone take time off today for the kind of study you propose? Surely a layman, at any rate, can get on without it? A fair question!—but there is, I think, a convincing answer to it. The questioner clearly assumes that a study of the nature and character of God will be unpractical and irrelevant for life. In fact, however, it is the most practical project anyone can engage in. Knowing about God is crucially important for the living of our lives . . . Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfold[ed] as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. This way you can waste your life and lose your soul."

As we begin this study on the attributes of God, consider what has been said already, and what God might want to reveal about Himself to you in the new year.

Yosemite in October

Rebekah at 8 Months

The Kid at 6 Months...

I just had to post this pic...

New Pic of the Dog

Papias Bible Study - Acts 1:1-11

I am praying about teaching a Sunday School class on Church History, beginning with Acts.

"The Acts of the Apostles" is the name given since at least the middle of the second century to the second volume of Luke's two volume history of Christian origins. Originally the two works would have circulated together, but as soon as the four Gospels were gathered into a single unit, the two volumes of this single work were divided and took separate places in the Canon of Holy Scripture. This is, in other words, volume 2 of a two-volume history, with the Gospel of Luke the first volume.

There has almost never been any doubt that the author of Acts is also the author of the third gospel. Luke 1:3-4 says "It seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught."

1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.

The name Theophilus is a combination of two Greek words. It means "beloved of God" or "friend of God." Little is known about him. Second-century sources indicate he was a wealthy, influential official in Antioch. Luke may have also been from Antioch, which would explain how the two men got to know each other. Theophilus was a Roman citizen who was a believer. He may have been a high-ranking Roman official because Luke referred to him as "most excellent Theophilus" (Luke 1:3). The term excellent is also used by Luke in reference to Felix and Festus, who were Roman governors (Acts 23:26, 26:25).
“But now consider the benevolent and Apostolic feelings of the writer: that for the sake of a single individual he took such pains as to write for him an entire Gospel. “That thou mightest have,” he says, “the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.” John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 1.

Some writers pointed out that the scroll for Acts is some 25 feet in length! It cost Luke to write these books, not only time, but also financial resources. What is God asking of us today?

Acts begins with a prologue in which Luke says that he told us in his first volume "all that Jesus began to do and teach." Acts is intended to tell us what Jesus continued to do and teach after his ascension to heaven, but now through his witnesses. We are to continue the work of evangelism and teaching that Jesus began.

Verse 2: And we are to utilize the same power that Jesus did, namely "through the Holy Spirit". Any work that we try to do or teach without the Holy Spirit is not His work.

F.F. Bruce said "The extension of the good news in the power of the Spirit is the theme of Acts."

"the apostles whom he had chosen" Jesus chose His own missionaries, taught them, and commissioned them with certain responsibilities. The same is true of all Christians: we are chosen by Christ. John 15:16.

3 To them he presented himself alive after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, "you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

Verse 3: "To them he presented himself alive" – Jesus is ALIVE! He proved it! The Greek word for "proof" here is a word that includes the idea of being convincing – infallible. No other religion in the world can claim anything like this! Not to unbelievers did Jesus spend his time, but His chosen ones. It is they, in turn, that will do His work.

Appeared to them during 40 days. NT accounts of Jesus' appearances make clear that Jesus was not continually visible to the apostles during the forty days, but appeared to them on various occasions. 1 Cor 15: 5-7. Some writer make a point that during the flood it rained for forty days; Moses was on the mountain forty days; and Jesus fasted forty days. Could 40 days be signifigant in some way?

"speaking about the kingdom of God": A constant theme of Jesus' teaching. See, for example, Luke 4:43; 8:1; 9:11. It also a theme of the first missionaries, the Seventy, in Luke 10:1-9. As it should be with us also, preaching the coming kingdom!

Verse 4: "Stay in Jerusalem". The word, "staying" has a marginal reference which gives eating as the actual Greek word used. "He ate with us," says Luke, and those who were there saw him eat. (Acts 10:41)

The disciples, many of whom were from Galilee, would otherwise perhaps have returned to Galilee, but Jerusalem was to be the place of the Spirit's descent. Jesus orders them to stay in Jerusalem. “Don’t start ministering until you have the power to do so.”

What was the "promise of the Father" that He had told them about? The gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told the apostles they would receive the Holy Spirit after He left them (Luke 24:44-49, John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7; 20:22).

“Just as when soldiers are to charge a multitude, no one thinks of letting them issue forth until they have armed themselves, or as horses are not suffered to start from the barriers until they have got their charioteer; .. Nor was this the only reason, but also there were many in Jerusalem who should believe.. For when those even who had crucified Him appear as believers, clearly this proved both the fact of the crucifixion and the iniquity of the deed, and afforded a mighty evidence of the Resurrection.” John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 1

Verse 5: For John the Baptizer's prediction that the Messiah would baptise people with the Holy Spirit, see Mark 1:8; Matthew 3:11; Luke 3:16; John 1:33.
"Not many days from now": The apostles had been with Jesus 40 days, and they would have to wait another 10 days before the Holy Spirit fell, hence, 50 days from Resurrection to Pentecost.

“But why had the Holy Ghost not yet come? It was fit that they should first be brought to have a longing desire for that event, and so receive the grace. For this reason Christ Himself departed, and then the Spirit descended. For had He Himself been there, they would not have expected the Spirit so earnestly as they did. On this account neither did He come immediately after Christ’s Ascension, but after eight or nine days. It is the same with us also; for our desires towards God are then most raised, when we stand in need.” John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts1

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Verse 6: When Christ taught the apostles about the kingdom after His resurrection, they thought perhaps now He would begin His reign. Old Testament prophecy gave no indication that there would be a long period of time between the first and second coming of Christ. The apostles were probably familiar with Ezekiel 36 and Joel 2, which say that the kingdom will come when the Holy Spirit is poured out. When they heard Christ say the Holy Spirit would come soon (v. 5), they thought He was about to set up His kingdom on earth. . Notice that they do not ask, “When?”, as they had before, but the question is “At this time..?” . Prophecies are found in Jeremiah 33:7; Psalms 14:7; 85:1; Hosea 6:11. Did they also have hopes of having great positions of authority in the reign of the Messiah, as before? Luke 22:24-29.
Remember that Israel at this time could be considered a "Roman occupied territory".

Verse 7: Jesus answered the disciples' question about the time of the kingdom's coming, He didn't tell them there would be no kingdom. He simply said that the time of the kingdom's coming was not for them to know. If there were no literal kingdom planned for the future, Christ would have said so in Acts 1:7. It is not for us to know when the Lord will return, for no man knows the day or the hour(Matt 24:36, 25:13, Mar 13:32).

Verse 8: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you" see vs 4&5. They are presently powerless. That powerlessness was manifested at the arrest of Jesus. He was arrested and all of the disciples fled into the night. They ran like frightened sheep. But there will be a change. They will receive power - the Greek word is dunamis. This is the word from which derives our English words "dynamite", "dynamic" and "dynamo." It is more than mere authority. It the power of ability.
"you will be my witnesses": Their task will not be speculation about the end, but filling up the time that does remain with bearing witness to Christ throughout the world. A witness is simply someone who tells what he knows, what he himself has seen and heard. For the apostles as witnesses, see also Luke 24:46-48; Acts 1:22; 2:32.

"Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" is something of an outline of the book of Acts. Chapters 1-7 = "in Jerusalem"; 8:1-11:18 = "Judea and Samaria"; and the rest of the book, "to the ends of the earth." The Holy Spirit was given for this reason: to empower the apostles to be Christ's witnesses in Jerusalem, and then on to the ends of the earth.


9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."

Verses 9: For direct verbal echoes, see 2 Kings 2:9-13 (Elijah's ascension). While only Luke tells us the story of the Ascension, there are other possible traces of the tradition of the Ascension in Ephesians 4:8-10; 1 Timothy 3:16; John 20:17. He had given them the instruction they needed, their commission, and told them to await the descent of the Spirit. His work was done and so he left them. Note the quiet removal; no pomp, no ceremony, as would have certainly been the case in a legendary account. Was the cloud the Shekinah glory of the Lord?
Wherefore also we keep the eighth day for rejoicing, in the which also Jesus rose from the dead, and having been manifested ascended into the heavens. Barnabas 15:9

Verse 10: While they strain to look(gazing into heaven) for Jesus, two angels stood by them.

Verse 11 There is almost a reproach in the words of the two angels: "Why are you standing here looking into the sky?" It is a gentle reproach as indicated by the fact that they encourage them with the thought that the Lord will return, just as they saw him leave. Jesus had told them that he was going to ascend(John 6:62, 20:17).

The Ascension occurred on the Mount of Olives, as we are told in v. 12. He will return to the Mount of Olives, as Zechariah tells us...

“On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.” Zech 14: 4-5(ESV)

The same Christ who ascended into heaven in Acts 1:9 will return the same way. He won't be different. He will return in the same glorified body that the disciples saw when Christ joined them for breakfast by the Sea of Galilee in John 21:4-14.

And thus was He, with the flesh, received up in their sight unto Him that sent Him, being with that same flesh to come again, accompanied by glory and power. For, say the [holy] oracles, "This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, in like manner as ye have seen Him go unto heaven."But if they say that He will come at the end of the world without a body, how shall those "see Him that pierced Him," and when they recognise Him, "mourn for themselves? "For incorporeal beings have neither form nor figure, nor the aspect of an animal possessed of shape, because their nature is in itself simple. Chapter 3 - The Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans

He who suffered "will come again from heaven,"and by all shall He be seen, who rose again from the dead. They too who crucified Him shall see and acknowledge Him; that is to say, His very flesh, against which they spent their fury, and without which it would be impossible for Himself either to exist or to be seen; so that they must blush with shame who affirm that His flesh sits in heaven void of sensation, like a sheath only, Christ being withdrawn from it; as well as those who (maintain) that His flesh and soul are just the same thing, or else that His soul is all that exists, but that His flesh no longer lives. Chapter 24 On the Flesh of Christ, Tertullian

..the primary Word-flesh and blood, yet purer than ours-who "shall descend in like manner as He ascended into heaven"the same both in substance and form, as the angels affirmed, so as even to be recognised by those who pierced Him. Designated, as He is, "the Mediator between God and man," He keeps in His own self the deposit of the flesh which has been committed to Him by both parties-the pledge and security of its entire perfection. For as "He has given to us the earnest of the Spirit, "so has He received from us the earnest of the flesh, and has carried it with Him into heaven as a pledge of that complete entirety which is one day to be restored to it. Chap 51 - On the Resurrection of the Flesh, Tertullian


He will come again on the clouds of heaven, just as He appeared when He ascended into heaven. Chapter 30, Against Praxeas, Tertullian

Now every one who bears witness to the truth, whether he support it by words or deeds, or in whatever way, may properly be called a witness (martyr); but it has come to be the custom of the brotherhood, since they are struck with admiration of those who have contended to the death for truth and valour, to keep the name of martyr more properly for those who have borne witness to the mystery of godliness by shedding their blood for it. The Saviour gives the name of martyr to every one who bears witness to the truth He declares; thus at the Ascension He says to His disciples:"You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judaea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." II.28, Commentary on the Gospel of John, Origen

This is a confirmation of the Resurrection; for if he was taken up with a body, much rather must He have risen again with a body. John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 1.

Knowing that Christ will return someday should motivate us to serve Him diligently. Someday we will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive rewards for what we did while on earth (2 Cor. 5:10). Christ said, "Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be" (Rev. 22:12). One of the greatest motivators for serving Jesus is that He will reward us for what we have done.

Vacation Pics - Idaho

My favorite animal is a tiger...

From the lake house at sunset..