Dividing the Word of Truth. Ralph V. Reynolds

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СКАЧАТЬ His circumference is nowhere.

      “Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.” (Jeremiah 23:23-24).

      Speak to Him then for He listens: and nearer than hands and feet. God is never so far off as even to be near; He is within. Our spirit is the home He holds most dear. The omnipresence of God is not only a detective truth; it is also protective (detective to the sinner, but protective to the saint.)

      References: Psalm 139: 17-18; Genesis 16:13; II Chronicles 2:6; Matthew 28:20; Acts 7: 48; and Acts 17:24-28.

      Grouping the above three attributes:

      Psalm 139:1-6 - The omniscience of God.

      Psalm 139:7-12 - The omnipresence of God.

      Psalm 139:13-19 - The omnipotence of God.

      Christ has these attributes proving His Deity:

      John 3:13 - On earth and in heaven - Omnipresence of Christ.

      Matthew 28:18 - There is no other power - Omnipotence of Christ.

      John 16:30 and also John 21:17 - Omniscience of Christ.

      E. THE HOLINESS OF GOD: This is the attribute with which God would have us remember Him more than any other. The visions which God gave to Job, Moses and Isaiah show this very definitely. Some thirty times does the prophet Isaiah speak of God as “The Holy One.”

      It is because of this attribute more than others that God cannot fellowship with sinful man. It is not God’s omnipotence and man’s weakness, which hinders fellowship nor yet the fact that God is perfect in knowledge and man is limited in knowledge. It is rather because of God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness. It is because of this God desires us to remember Him by His attribute of holiness.

      The holiness of God demanded that the blood of millions of lambs, goats, bullocks, turtle doves, etc. be shed whereby man might approach unto God. In the New Testament we can only approach God through the blood of the man Christ Jesus.

      The construction of the Tabernacle with its holy and most holy place, into which the High Priest entered once every year with blood; the ten commandments with all their moral commands; the laws of clean and unclean animals—absolutely nothing unholy in Him.

      “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” (I John 1:5).

      God hates sin and to Him it is vile and detestable. The infinite distance between the sinner and God is because of sin. The sinner and God are at opposite poles of the moral universe. Herein lies the need of atonement whereby this awful distance is bridged.

      We shall have right views of sin when we get right views of God’s holiness. The approach to a holy God must be through the merits of Jesus Christ and on the ground of righteousness, which is Christ’s and which in the natural we do not possess (Philippians 3:9).

      References: Isaiah 59:2; Isaiah 41:14; Isaiah 6:3-5; Acts 3:14; I Peter 1:15: and Revelation 4:8.

      F. THE IMMUTABILITY OF GOD: This means that God does not change. Time and change are together denied of God. There is no past, present or future with God. Everything is one great living present. It is not possible that God should possess an attribute at one time that He does not possess at another.

      “The Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (James 1:17).

      “I am the Lord, I change not…” (Malachi 3:6).

      G. THE ETERNITY OF GOD: This attribute is closely connected to that of immutability. It simply means that God dwells in eternity and time has no effect upon Him. With Him there is no past or future but one eternal present.

      “From everlasting to everlasting, thou are God.” (Psalm 90:2).

      “Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God?” (Habakkuk 1:12).

      “I am that I am…“ (Exodus 3:14).

      The past, present and future lie in these words for the title of Jehovah. I AM the eternally present One; the self-existent One.

      H. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD AND THE ETERNITY OF GOD: There is a direct relation between space and time. This may be worked out scientifically. Actually God could not be omnipresent if he were not the “I AM”. Filling the universe with His presence He sees the past as now. How we should rejoice that our past is blotted out under the blood of Jesus. Otherwise our sins would continuously appear as happening now in the eyes of our God.

      I. DOES GOD REPENT? If God is immutable how can God repent?

      “And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” (Genesis 6:6).

      Actually God never changes His mind. There is no necessity for this for His foreknowledge tells Him before hand of every act upon the part of man. God’s character never changes but His dealings with men change as they change from ungodliness to godliness and from disobedience to obedience. When a man bicycling against the wind turns about and goes with the wind, the wind seems to have changed although it is blowing just the same as it was before. It was the man who changed; not the wind.

      J. GOD IS LOVE:

      “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” (I John 4:16).

      It would appear that love is more than an attribute. It expresses the very essence of God’s nature. It should be considered along with the statements, “God is light” (I John 1:5), and “God is Spirit” (John 4:24). These are not just characteristics but the very essence of God’s Being.

      The love of God is greater than human comprehension. It is beyond measure and understanding. The love of God is of such a nature that it is extended to all men everywhere at all times. He loves every man regardless of color, nationality and culture. He does not love the sins and habits of man but He loves the soul of man and He constantly has the physical and spiritual welfare of man at heart.

      The Cross of Calvary is the highest expression of the love of God for sinless man.

      “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16).

      “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8).

      References: Isaiah 38:17; Isaiah 49:15-16; Isaiah 63:9; and I John 4:9-10.

      K. DOES GOD HATE?

      “These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him.” (Proverbs 6:16).

      The nature of Love demands a hatred for that which would injure or destroy the object of that love. God loves the sinner but hates the sin. There is nothing inconsistent here. Rather God would not love the sinner if He did not at the same time hate that which is hurting the sinner. This hatred along with God’s anger is not a carnal human emotion but rather the reaction of a holy God to sin which is expressed in terms that man can understand.

      God’s nature is not vindictive but rather vindicative.

      L. GOD IS RIGHTEOUS AND JUST: These attributes СКАЧАТЬ