A S P E C T S - a monthly devotional journal For subscription information on receiving Aspects every month via e-mail, or the laser-printed edition by mail, see NOTES, COPYRIGHT & SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION near the end of this file. Aspects is written by David S. Lampel. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Issue #30, May 1993 (Internet Edition) W H O I S M Y G O D ? ----------------------------------------------------------------- In this issue: Perspective 1 - "To Him Who Rides the Ancient Skies Above": He is eternal, outside of time Perspective 2 - No Shadow of Turning: He is all-powerful, but faithful to Himself Perspective 3 - The Servant Master: He is only one Son, who came to serve . . . for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. -2 Timothy 1:12 ----------------------------------------------------------------- A phrase has been ringing in my ears the last few days. Over and over it repeats: "In the name of God." O, what sorrowful tragedies have been wrought in the name of God, and how He must weep over the mayhem of His creation. It is our personal responsibility to stay tuned to the truth of Scripture; God's word must be so indelibly written on our hearts that no charlatan can alter one jot or tittle. If we do, indeed, have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, then no one else can be the guardian of that relationship. We stay true to Scripture--we remain capable of testing the words of others with the words of God--by knowing His word. We keep the Holy Spirit close to our breast, as translator of the wisdom and mind of God. And in this, we stay discerning. But what can we do when someone claims to be God--not just to speak for Him? Isn't God omnipotent? Can He not do anything He chooses, show up whenever He likes? Is there anything God cannot do? Is there anything God must do--that He cannot avoid doing? Yes. There is one thing that God cannot do: He cannot be anything but who He is. God must always be true to Himself. If we stay capable of recognizing error by knowing truth, then the same rule applies when we are confronted with someone claiming to be God. We stay capable of recognizing false deity, by knowing true deity. God cannot change. "This attribute excludes all necessity of becoming, or development, and whatever is meant by change, or the possibility of change. In His essence and in all the attributes of His essential Being, God is forever the same."(1) "God has objective existence independent of and apart from any notions which we may have concerning Him. The worshipping heart does not create its Object."(2) It is impossible to worship a changing god, for we worship him for what he is, and if we can never be sure of what he is, then what are we worshipping? But our God, the one God, never changes. We can know who He is, because He is always the same: ever faithful, ever true, ever holy. I know that whatever God does, It shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, And nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him.(3) There will always be pretenders, because there will always be fools; there will always be those masquerading as deity, because there will always be evil. But it is our responsibility to know our God when we see Him. Do you know what He looks like? Do you know His personality, His voice, His touch. If a fool whispers in your ear that he is god, do you know enough to brand him a liar? Knowing God is as much a process as is living by His word. We are not born with the knowledge of God: we must acquire it. The acquisition of this knowledge is a process--but a process filled with unspeakable joy. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Perspective 1: " T O H I M W H O R I D E S T H E A N C I E N T S K I E S A B O V E " ------------- How can we know that a false god is not eternal? _____________________________ "But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!"(4) "What the Divine immensity is to space the Divine eternity is to time. That God is eternal is the constant declaration of Scripture: in fact, this is a predicate more habitual than any other, being the first revelation of Himself to His people, I AM THAT I AM (Exodus 3:14), and continued in a variety of other forms down to the end, when Scripture refers to God 'which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty' (Revelation 1:8)."(5) _____________________________ He signed one of his final writings "Yahweh Koresh." When asked by an Australian journalist how his people perceived him, he said: "They think I'm God." A ninth-grade dropout with a fondness for heavy artillery, Koresh has now, in one final blaze of glory, come face to face with the One he was so pitifully impersonating. In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.(6) The real Yahweh has not walked among men since the garden fall of Adam and Eve. He is an eternal being set apart from His creation. His holiness, His purity, prevent Him from dwelling with the sin of His creation. God comes and goes at will; time means nothing to Him. An eternity in our eyes, is but a blink in His; yet He can stretch out eternity and fit it into our briefest moment. He is God: He knows no boundaries. It is not necessary for the real Yahweh to request more time from His accusers so that He can complete His final manuscript. Just as he carved His law out of the rock of Mt. Sinai, He can complete any writing before we even realize He has begun. He is God: He stands outside of time. The God of heaven, who breathed life into man and crafted woman from his side, does not live in a structure of their making.(7) He does not live in one place at one time. He is God: He lives in all places at any time. Take a journey through His holy word and you will quickly see that the eternal and awesome God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob could not possibly have dwelt--even for a moment--in the sorry flesh of "Yahweh Koresh." _____________________________ "Actually, the wisest person in the world is the person who knows the most about God. You must begin with God. Then you begin to understand everything in its proper context. All things fit into shape and form when you begin with God. "Since I learned that Jesus Christ came into the world to be my Savior, I have based my life on God's revelation in the Scriptures. No matter how brilliant a man's mind may be, he cannot jar me as far as the things of God are concerned. He throws his objections and his earthly conclusions at me with no effect."(8) Into the Word ------------- Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth, sing praise to the Lord, Selah to him who rides the ancient skies above, who thunders with mighty voice. Proclaim the power of God, whose majesty is over Israel, whose power is in the skies. You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God! -Psalm 68:32-35 Exodus 3:14-15 ________________________________ Deut 32:39-41 ________________________________ Deut 33:27 ________________________________ Psalm 90:1-4 ________________________________ Psalm 102:25-27 ________________________________ Psalm 135:13 ________________________________ Psalm 145:13 ________________________________ Prov 8:12-31 ________________________________ Isaiah 26:4 ________________________________ Isaiah 40:28 ________________________________ Isaiah 41:4 ________________________________ Isaiah 43:13 ________________________________ Isaiah 44:6 ________________________________ Jer 10:10-16 ________________________________ Micah 5:2 ________________________________ John 5:25-27 ________________________________ Acts 17:24-25 ________________________________ Romans 1:20 ________________________________ 1 Tim 1:17 ________________________________ 1 Tim 6:15-16 ________________________________ Hebrews 1:8 ________________________________ 2 Peter 3:8 ________________________________ Rev 1:4-6 ________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Digging Deeper--Moving Higher ----------------------------- Forever We sigh for human love, from which a whim or chance may sever, And leave unsought the love of God, tho' God's love lasts forever. We seek earth's peace in things that pass like foam upon the river, While steadfast as the stars on high, God's peace abides forever. Man's help, for which we long, gives way, as trees in stormwinds quiver, But mightier than all human need God's help remains forever. Turn unto Thee our wav'ring hearts, O Thou who failest never; Give us Thy love and Thy great peace, and be our Help forever!(9) Making it Personal ------------------ The cult once in residence near Waco, Texas may have been an extreme example of religion gone wrong, but it was not unique. You may be shaking your head over the gullibility of those people, but there are millions like them scattered about the world. Focusing on the eternity of God--His pure essence as the one and forever God--and basing your answer on Scripture, what fundamental mistakes did his followers make in believing Koresh was actually God? Again focusing on the eternity of God, what Scripture passages would you use to verify that an imposter was not the God of heaven? How would you avoid making the mistake made by the people who followed Koresh? For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.(10) Into the Word ------------- Paul and Barnabas were once declared to be gods: In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, "Stand up on your feet!" At that, the man jumped up and began to walk. When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!" Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them. -Acts 14:8-13 Continue reading this story (v14ff). What was the response of Paul and Barnabas when others tried to deify them? ----------------------------------------------------------------- Perspective 2: N O S H A D O W O F T U R N I N G ------------- How can we know that a false god is lying about his identity? _____________________________ "God is the most obligated being that there is. He is obligated by His own nature. He is infinite in His wisdom; therefore He can never do anything that is unwise. He is infinite in His justice; therefore He can never do anything that is unjust. He is infinite in His goodness; therefore He can never do anything that is not good. He is infinite in His truth; therefore it is impossible that He should lie."(11) _____________________________ The word is immutable, and means "never changing or varying; unchangeable." Our God can never be anything but what He is. But as we test the spirits, it's not enough to gauge the veracity of a presumed god by his own immutability; such things can be faked for awhile. No, the key is to use the unchanging nature of the God of Scripture as a standard, against which to compare every pretender. Let's consider a hypothetical situation for a moment. Let's say, for the sake of illustration, that nothing in Scripture would prevent God from periodically visiting earth today; so that it would be possible for you to meet God along the roadway--much as the two disciples met Jesus on the road to Emmaus.(12) Now, given that situation, how would you determine that the person by your side was really and truly the one God of heaven? Scripture does not describe the appearance of God--as one would describe another person--only the glory that surrounds Him.(13) How could you be sure? By the immutability of the God of Scripture. The personality and behavior of anyone claiming to be the God of heaven must be a perfect match with the God of Abraham described in the Bible. At the slightest deviation, he is immediately revealed to be a fraud, for God's personality does not change. "I the LORD do not change."(14) So let's consider the behavior of someone who claimed to be God, to see how he matched up: * Married to multiple wives * Sex with multiple partners, including other mens' wives * Forcing married couples to live separately * Physical abuse of children * Abusive brainwashing practices * Fascination with guns and other weapons of destruction * Use of those weapons against law-enforcement and innocent people * Profanity We could live out our lives never being confronted with someone so brazen, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be always on guard for false gods. Most counterfeit deities are more subtle and sly--which makes them even more dangerous. Knowledge of Scripture and intimate familiarity with the one, true God are the only ways to reliably distinguish between the false and the true. Into the Word ------------- Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. -Hebrews 6:17-18 Exodus 15:11 ________________________________ Exodus 34:14 ________________________________ Numbers 23:19 ________________________________ Deut 4:35-39 ________________________________ 1 Sam 15:29 ________________________________ 2 Sam 22:32 ________________________________ 1 Kings 8:23 ________________________________ Psalm 33:11 ________________________________ Psalm 119:89-91 ________________________________ Psalm 139:1-18 ________________________________ Psalm 145:13 ________________________________ Eccl 3:14 ________________________________ Eccl 7:13 ________________________________ Isaiah 40:28 ________________________________ Isaiah 42:8 ________________________________ Isaiah 43:10-11 ________________________________ Isaiah 45:5-18 ________________________________ Isaiah 59:1 ________________________________ Jer 10:1-16 ________________________________ Jer 14:22 ________________________________ Jer 23:23-24 ________________________________ Malachi 3:6 ________________________________ Acts 7:48-49 ________________________________ Romans 1:18-32 ________________________________ Romans 11:29 ________________________________ Eph 4:4-6 ________________________________ 1 Tim 2:5 ________________________________ Hebrews 6:17-18 ________________________________ James 1:13-18 ________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Digging Deeper--Moving Higher ----------------------------- Great Is Thy Faithfulness "Great is Thy faithfulness," O God my Father, There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not; As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be. Refrain: "Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!" Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hath provided-- "Great is Thy faithfulness," Lord, unto me! Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon and stars in their courses above, Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide; Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside!(15) Making it Personal ------------------ Have you ever been confronted with someone who claimed to be God? What was your response? What should have been your response? If you have never been in this situation, what should be your response if it happens? What should be our response to the philosophy that says "there is God in all people," or "we all have deity within us?" How is the above philosophy different from the Christian saying that he or she has Christ living in their heart, or that the Holy Spirit dwells within? _____________________________ "With us there are mutations arising from physical nature. The material must needs be subject to laws of growth and decadence. Our spiritual nature is subject to changes arising from the advancement of knowledge. Our moral nature is subject to fluctuations; circumstances play upon us . . . Change is the condition of life. But the unchangeableness of God is the negation of all imperfection, it is the negation of all dependence on circumstances, it is the negation of all possibility of decay or exhaustion, it is the negation of all caprice."(16) Into the Word ------------- Describe God, the Father: Now, using only the Psalms, how is God the Father described: REFERENCE ATTRIBUTE _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Perspective 3: T H E S E R V A N T M A S T E R ------------- How can we identify the true Christ? _____________________________ "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many."(17) Jesus was first and foremost a servant. The creator of this world, the very Word of God, became, for a little while, a man, so that He might serve His creation in person. And He serves still, ever interceding on our behalf to the Father. So that is the best test of any counterfeit Christ: Is he a servant? Mr. Koresh claimed to be Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Again, for the sake of discussion, let's briefly set aside the fact that the Bible clearly states that the next time Jesus visits this earth, He will do so from out of the clouds, in a blaze of glory and accompanied by a heavenly entourage;(18) that criterion alone would have disqualified the Waco pretender. After eliminating that requirement, however, what are we left with? The documented personality and behavior of Jesus. Who was He, and why? Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!(19) In only one place in Scripture does Jesus describe his own personality: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."(20) Gentle. Humble. Compare those qualities to the various humans who have claimed to be Christ. Compare those qualities even to many of the more visibly famous, Christian "personalities" of our day. Now (and this one may hurt) compare those two Christ-qualities to yourself. Oh, why must it always come back to us! Why must our scrutinizing, critical gaze on the life of others always, inevitably, turn inward? Wouldn't it be nice, just for once, to examine the weaknesses in others without bothering with the weaknesses in ourselves. But that's not a picture of the Christian way. "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."(21) We could easily use up vast quantities of time being critical of cults and their leaders; their actions and beliefs would be laughable, if they were not so sadly tragic. But we have learned nothing if we stop there. Our condemnation of others is simply vain flattery, if we fail to search deeply for the offense in ourselves. * What have I said to others that has not squared with Scripture? * What behavior have I demonstrated that was not Christ-like? * What have I done, in either word or deed, that might have driven someone away from the true Jesus? * Have I ever placed myself somehow above the gentle humility of Christ? Into the Word ------------- Matthew 11:27 ________________________________ Matthew 22:42 ________________________________ Matthew 26:63-64 ________________________________ John 1:1-3 ________________________________ John 1:14 ________________________________ John 1:18 ________________________________ John 3:16 ________________________________ John 3:31 ________________________________ John 5:21-23 ________________________________ John 10:30 ________________________________ John 14:9 ________________________________ John 17:1-26 ________________________________ 1 Cor 8:5-6 ________________________________ 1 Cor 15:45-48 ________________________________ 2 Cor 4:4 ________________________________ Phil 2:1-11 ________________________________ Col 1:13-20 ________________________________ 1 Tim 2:5 ________________________________ Hebrews 1:3 ________________________________ 1 John 4:9 ________________________________ 1 John 5:20 ________________________________ Rev 1:1-8 ________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Digging Deeper--Moving Higher ----------------------------- Oh, To Be Like Thee Oh, to be like Thee! blessed Redeemer, This is my constant and longing prayer. Gladly I'll forfeit all of earth's treasures, Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear. Refrain: Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee, Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art! Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness; Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart. Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion, Loving, forgiving, tender and kind, Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting, Seeking the wandering sinner to find. Oh, to be like Thee! lowly in spirit, Holy and harmless, patient and brave; Meekly enduring cruel reproaches, Willing to suffer others to save. Oh, to be like Thee! while I am pleading, Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love; Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling, Fit me for life and heaven above.(22) Making it Personal ------------------ Do you know the personality (not the actions) of Christ well enough to describe Him to an unbeliever? How would you describe your Lord to a stanger? Into the Word ------------- The true personality of Jesus Christ can also be ascertained from His titles. In Scripture, Jesus is referred to, for example, as the "Advocate" (1 John 2:1) and the "Horn of salvation" (Luke 1:69). How many other titles can you find that help describe the person and behavior of Jesus? TITLE REFERENCE _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ _______________ _________________ A Final Thought --------------- "Two seeds lie before us--the one is warmed in the sun, the other falls from the sower's hand into the cold dark earth, and there it lies buried beneath the soil. That seed which suns itself in the noontime beam may rejoice in the light in which it basks, but it is liable to be devoured by the bird. And certainly nothing can come of it, however long it might linger above ground. But the other seed, hidden beneath the clods in a damp, dark sepulcher, soon swells, germinates, bursts its sheath, throws off the mold, springs up a green blade, buds, blossoms, becomes a flower, exhales perfume, and loads the wings of every wind. Better far for the seed to pass into the earth and die than to lie in the sunshine and produce no fruit. And even so for you the future in its sorrow shall be as a sowing in a fertile land. Tears shall moisten you, grace shall increase within you, and you shall grow up in the likeness of your Lord unto perfection of holiness, to be such a flower of God's own planting as even angels shall delight to gaze upon in the day of your transplanting to celestial soil."(23) ======================================================================== NOTES, COPYRIGHT & SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION Notes ----- 1 William Burt Pope, A Compendium of Christian Theology, Vol 1 (Hunt and Eaton, 1890), p.303; as quoted by Dick Eastman in his book, A Celebration of Praise (Baker, 1984), p.32. 2 A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God (Christian Publications, Inc., 1982), p.55. 3 Eccl 3:14 NKJV. 4 1 Kings 8:27. 5 William Burt Pope in A Celebration of Praise (Baker, 1984), p.30. 6 Psalm 102:25-27. 7 Acts 17:24-25. 8 A.W. Tozer, Whatever Happened to Worship? (Christian Publications, 1985), p.62ff. 9 Effie Smith Ely (b. 1879). 10 Romans 1:20. 11 J. Gresham Machen in More Gathered Gold (Evangelical Press, 1988), p.113. 12 Luke 24:13-35. 13 Isaiah 6:1-13; Revelation 4:1-11. 14 Malachi 3:6a. 15 Thomas O. Chisholm (b.1866). 16 Alexander Maclaren, in his Expositions of Holy Scripture (Baker, 1984), Vol 6, p.350f. He continues: "[The unchangeableness of God] is the assurance that His is an underived, self-dependent being, and that with Him is the fountain of light: it is the assurance that, raised above the limits of time and the succession of events, He is in the eternal present, where all things that were and are, and are to come, stand naked and open. It is the assurance that the calm might of His eternal will acts, not in sp asms of successive volitions preceded by a period of indecision and equilibrium between contending motives, but is one continuous uniform energy, never beginning, never bending, never ending; that the purpose of His will is 'the eternal purpose which He hath purposed in Himself.'" 17 Matthew 24:4-5. 18 It is not my usual habit to begin a discussion, as I have here and in the previous section, by setting aside--even for argument's sake--the truth of Scripture. But events seems to suggest that, to thoroughly eliminate any possibility that we would fall into the same trap as those just destroyed out of their own ignorance, we must approach the integrity of the one God and His Son, Jesus Christ, from many angles. It is too easy to say that certainly we would never fall for such deception; Satan has many talents, and the one at which he far excels is deception. It is our responsibility, as followers of the true Christ, to be ready with more than one method of picking Him out of a crowd. 19 Phil 2:5-8. 20 Matthew 11:28-30. 21 Matthew 7:3-5. 22 Thomas O. Chisholm. 23 Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Quotable Spurgeon (Shaw, 1990), p.313. Copyright Information --------------------- All original material in Aspects is Copyright (C) 1995 David S. Lampel. This data file is the sole property of David S. Lampel. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety for circulation as "freeware," without charge. All reproductions of this data file must contain the copyright notice (i.e., "Copyright (C) 1995 David S. Lampel."). This data file may not be used without the permission of David S. Lampel for resale or the enhancement of any other product sold. This includes all of its content. Brief quotations not to exceed more than 500 words may be used, with the appropriate copyright notice, to enhance or supplement personal or church devotions, newsletters, journals, or spoken messages. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture is from the New International Version. NIV quotations are from the Holy Bible: New International Version, Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission. NASB quotations are from the New American Standard Bible (C) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Subscription Information ------------------------ Aspects is published monthly. There are two preferred methods of receiving it on a regular basis: 1) You may subscribe to the laser-printed (hard copy) edition, which is sent out via regular mail. 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