01.006. THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD (Concluded)
Lesson Five THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD (Concluded) Scripture Reading: Psalms 145:1-21.
Scriptures To Memorize: “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
43. Q. What do we mean when we say that God is infinitely holy?
A. We mean that it is His nature to love, desire and will only that which is good and right, and to abhor that which is evil.
(1) Holiness is the fundamental attribute in God, which conditions and limits the exercise of all the other attributes. “In Christ’s redeeming work, though love makes the atonement, it is violated holiness that requires it; and in the eternal punishment of the wicked, the demand of holiness for self-vindication overbears the pleading of love for the sufferers” (Strong, Systematic Theology, p. 297). “A God all mercy is a God unjust” (Edward Young). “No one can be just without subordinating Pity to the sense of Right” (Martineau). (2) Isaiah 6:3—“Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts.” Revelation 4:8—“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty.” Hebrews 12:14—“the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord.” James 1:13—“God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man.” 1 Peter 1:16—“ye shall be holy; for I am holy.”
44. Q. What do we mean when we say that God is infinitely just?
A. We mean that under His moral government the righteous shall all receive a just recompense of reward for righteousness; and that all the wicked shall receive a correspondingly just retribution for their wickedness.
Romans 2:6—“God who will render to every man according to his works.” Romans 2:11—“there is no respect of persons with God.” Psalms 89:14—“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of thy throne.” Examples: Punishment of the people of Noah’s day; destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; destruction of Jerusalem, and dispersion of the Jews; final segregation of all the wicked in hell, with the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41). Galatians 6:7—“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Romans 2:5-8, “But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his works: to them that by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life; but unto them that are factious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, shall be wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that worketh evil.” Romans 6:23—“For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
45. Q. What do we mean when we say that God is infinitely good?
A. We mean that it is His nature to act always for the greatest good of His whole creation, and that He really does bestow innumerable blessings upon His creatures daily.
(1) In administering His moral universe, God always acts for the benefit of His creation, not in part, but as a whole. Romans 2:11—“there is no respect of persons with God.” (2) One who might be inclined to question the goodness of God, because of the sin and suffering incidental to our present state, should learn that beginnings are to be judged by endings, and not endings by beginnings. This is especially true with respect to the Plan of the Universe, which is to have its consummation in the “new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13). Only in the Day of Consummation (“the times of restoration of all things,” Acts 3:21) shall we be able to properly and correctly evaluate the justice, righteousness and goodness of our God. (3) Psalms 145:9—“Jehovah is good to all; and his tender mercies are over all his works.” Matthew 19:17—“One there is who is good.” Romans 8:28—“to them that love God all things work together for good.” Let us “count our many blessings, name them one by one.” (4) Matthew 6:31-32—“Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithall shall we be clothed? . . . for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” When are we as Christians going to learn to take the teaching of Jesus seriously, accept it literally, and actually go to living it day by day?
“Said the Robin to the Sparrow:
‘I should really like to know Why these anxious human beings Rush about and worry so!’
“Said the Sparrow to the Robin:
‘Friend, I think that it must be That they have no heavenly Father Such as cares for you and me!’”
(Elizabeth Cheney) 46.Q.What do we mean when we say that God is infinitely true?
A. We mean that He cannot err, deceive nor lie; that He desires, loves, wills and reveals only the truth.
Psalms 119:160—“the sum of thy word is truth.” John 3:33—“He that hath received his witness hath set his seal to this, that God is true.” Titus 1:2—“God, who cannot lie.” John 14:6—“I am . . . the truth.” John 14:17—“the Spirit of truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15—“the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”
47. Q. What do we mean when we say that God is infinitely faithful?
A. We mean that He faithfully executes all His judgments and fulfills all His promises.
2 Timothy 2:13—“he abideth faithful.” 1 Corinthians 10:13—“God is faithful.” Deuteronomy 32:4—“a God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is he.” Isaiah 40:8—“the word of our God shall stand forever.” 1 John 1:9—“if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Hebrews 2:2—“For if the word spoken through angels proved stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation?” Matthew 24:35—“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”
48. Q. What do we mean when we say that God is infinitely merciful?
A. We mean that He is ever willing and anxious to pardon all who are truly penitent.
(1) Ezekiel 33:11—“as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his ways and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways,” etc. Psalms 145:9—“His tender mercies are over all his works.” Luke 1:78—“the tender mercy of our God,” 2 Corinthians 1:3—“the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.” Ephesians 2:4—“God, being rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us. Titus 3:5—“according to his mercy he saved us.” (2) In the story of the Prodigal-Son (Luke 15:11-32), Jesus tells us that the father “ran” to meet his penitent boy returning home, “and fell on his neck and kissed him.” Is this not intended to portray the infinite mercy and compassion of our heavenly Father? Note, too, that the father was “moved with compassion” (Luke 15:20). (3) Robert Browning writes: “God! Thou art love! I build my faith on that.” Lowell says: “’Tis heaven alone that is given away; ‘tis only God may be had for the asking.” Annie Johnston Flint: “Out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth and giveth—and giveth again.”
49. Q. What do we mean when we say that God is longsuffering?
A. We mean that He gives the sinner a long time for repentance, even to the limit at which love must give way to justice.
(1) 1 Peter 3:20—“when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing” (i.e., for one hundred and twenty years, Genesis 6:3). 2 Peter 3:9—“the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2) Consider His longsuffering patience towards the children of Israel, despite their numerous and repeated backslidings! Think of the awful wickedness of our world today—yet God waits, hoping that men may come to repentance! (3) God’s mercy will follow you to the grave, my sinner friend, but it cannot consistently follow you farther. This life is probationary; in the next world, God’s mercy must give way to His justice. No such thing as postmortem repentance or salvation is taught in the Scriptures. See, for illustration, the narrative of Lazarus and the Rich Man, Luke 16:19-31.
50. Q. What lessons should we learn from these great truths about God?
A. Three lessons, especially: 1. That, because God is infinitely just, we cannot expect to continue in sin and “get away with it;” 2. That, because God is infinitely faithful, we can depend absolutely on His Word with its “precious and exceeding great promises;” and, 3. That, because God is infinitely merciful and longsuffering, He yearns for all sinners to forsake their evil ways and come back to “the Father’s house” in true penitence.
(1) Our sins will find us out: if not here, then hereafter. Whatsoever we sow, we shall reap in kind. If we sow to the flesh, we shall of the flesh reap corruption. If we sow to the Spirit, we shall of the Spirit reap eternal life. See Galatians 6:7-8. Each after its own kind is a law of the moral as well as the biological realm. (2) We cannot always depend on our emotions, experiences, or notions, nor upon the opinions of others; but we can always depend on God’s Word. Therefore let us search the Scriptures diligently, that we may know the way of life and walk in it. (3) God loves you, my sinner friend! He yearns for you. He pleads with you to come back “home.” He says: “My son, give me thy heart; and let thine eyes delight in my ways!” (Proverbs 23:26). Oh! give Him your heart now and He will fill it with peace and joy!
REVIEW EXAMINATION OVER LESSON FIVE 43.Q.What do we mean when we say that God is infinitely holy?
44. Q. What do we mean when we say that God is infinitely just?
45. Q. What do we mean when we say that God is infinitely good?
46. Q. What do we mean when we say that God is infinitely true?
47. Q. What do we mean when we say that God is infinitely faithful?
48. Q. What do we mean when we say that God is infinitely merciful?
49. Q. What do we mean when we say that God is longsuffering?
50. Q. What lessons should we learn from these great truths about God?