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There may be no satisfactory answer to this question. The Bible is clear about the exclusive claims of Christ (see Jn 14:6). Yet we also know God is merciful and absolutely just. It would seem to contradict what we know of his nature if he did not account for the disadvantages of those who, through no fault of their own, have never heard of Jesus.
From another perspective we have to say that even those who have heard the name of Jesus do not deserve to be saved. Salvation is always the result of God’s love for us, not our love for him. It is his grace—not our efforts—that saves us.
Still, God’s grace requires a human response. Christians have a responsibility to make Christ known in all the world so people have the opportunity to respond (see Mt 28:19–20). Ultimately, we can trust God to judge the world justly.
In Jesus we see God’s attributes of love, wisdom and grace. In 2 Timothy 2:11–13, Paul mentions some other divine attributes that Jesus clearly possesses. Verse 12 declares God’s justice: if we reject Christ, then God has no choice but to also reject us. God’s moral purity (see Isaiah 6:3–5) necessitates his justice; he cannot, will not and does not ignore sin. Jesus also possesses moral purity. As both Hebrews 4:14–151John 3:5 attest, Jesus lived a sinless life. God the Father also endorsed Jesus’ moral purity (see Matthew 17:5).
Following the stern warning of 2 Timothy 2:12, Paul highlights Jesus’ faithfulness. Although we may turn away from Jesus, he gives us many undeserved chances to be reconciled with him. God’s faithfulness is well chronicled in the Old Testament’s accounts of the Israelites’ cycles of disobedience that were met with God’s mercy.
Both God and his Son, Jesus, possess moral purity, justice and faithfulness. These traits could not belong to an ordinary human but rather describe God incarnate. The fact that Jesus possessed these traits gives powerful testimony to his claims to be.
If God were great but not good, he would manipulate, deceive, and just plain lie. But because he is good, he is true and he is truthful. When we say that God is true, it is so much more than saying he is accurate (like a bank statement being true or a newspaper report being precise).
Truth as a personal attribute means faithfulness. It means being consistent within oneself, and in harmony with reality. When any of the biblical authors talked about “the true God” they were saying, the Creator of heaven and earth is steady and faithful. He does not change the rules of life. All things hold together as they are “trued” to him who is true. He will always reflect reality to us, and so his words of comfort are not mere sentimental rhetoric, and his words of confrontation are not a sour disposition expressed. There is no one more true than God.
It is why Jesus said: “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3).
It is all about knowing God. The last ten devotionals in the Everything New series have focussed on some of the attributes of God (see them all here). They include big words, landmark words: Holiness. Righteousness. Justice. Love. Truth. But they are not mere words, and not just theological bookmarkers.
They are themes that rise up out of almost every page of the Bible. They are God’s way of saying to you and to me that he is great, but that he is also good. His moral excellence and purity is who he is. This is why we long for something better in our own lives–to be different from what we are today (more holy), to get things right in life, to receive love and to extend it, to be faithful.
God’s majesty alone ought to interest us in knowing him. But it is a good thing if we also pursue him because of his goodness, which is always a picture of how we are to live. That’s what it means to be made in the image of God. Some of his attributes, especially these attributes of goodness, are the intended shape of our human lives. And others, like omniscience and omnipresence and omnipotence, are left to God alone.
The most remarkable thing is this: there is a God and he wants us to know him. When we feel discouraged, or wounded, or confused, or lost–God speaks to us. It is equally important for us to know that when life is going well and we have no signifiant problems, we need to connect with God, otherwise pride and self-confidence will be our downfall. At all times and under all circumstances, he is the God who is great and good. And he is the one who says, “I am making everything new.”
[Excerpt from Putting the Pieces Back Together: How Real Life and Real Faith Connect. Click for more.]
The Scottish theologian P. T. Forsyth believed that there are really two overarching attributes of God: holiness and love. Put the pieces together (because God is a whole and complete reality), and you can speak of the “holy love” of God. His holiness is our assurance that he is different from the defilements of this world, and indeed, different from us, which contradicts any religious notion that God or the gods are just amplified versions of human nature.
But because God is love he is not separated from us. He is engaged, connected, involved. He is a God at work. Separate but not separated. Discriminating but not discriminatory. Hating evil but loving good. And, out of that love, he was willing to descend into this corrupt world in a great Incarnation and, in the person of Jesus, draw unholy people toward his holiness.
Amazing!
In 1 John 4 we find this clear, bold summary of the issue: “God is love.” It is a way of saying that this attribute is so central to who God is, this act is so essential to who we must be in God, that we can set our focus there and spend a lifetime asking God to help us understand and live in this reality. Who will ever tire of adoring a God who is love?
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” (1 John 4:7-12).
God’s love has many faces. It is his mercy, which is his willingness to suspend judgment while there is hope for correction or salvation in our lives. It is his benevolence, which is his pattern of bringing blessings into our lives. And then, of course, there is grace. Grace is giving. For lack of a better word, it is God’s giving-ness. He gives and gives and gives. No one will ever change that, because love is who God is. And, because of love, God does not spoil us. He gives what we really need, which is not always what we think we need.
[Excerpt from Putting the Pieces Back Together: How Real Life and Real Faith Connect. Click for more.]
Hebrew 10:38
Now the just live by faith; but if any man draw back, My Soul shall have no pleasure in him.
Examples of HigherWays [Dake]
Living and acting on faith regarding what is not seen, even what seems impossible to be true – while man lives by what he sees and understands.
God plans on eternity – man for time.
God the spiritual – man the material.
God consecrates Himself to the highest good of all – man to self-gratification.
God works in miraculous and mysterious ways – man in the ordinary.
God’s ways are supernatural – man’s natural.
God’s ways are unlimited – man’s limited.
God exalts through humility – man through self- exaltation.
God’s way up is down – man’s is to climb up without going down [humbling self] first.
God controls by love – man by force.
God gives justice without reward – man gives it for reward and personal gain.
God wins respect by goodness – man by wealth and power.
God redeems by death – man by money.
God’s program is carried on without outward show – man’s by show and splendor.
God’s way is to take no thought for the morrow – man’s way is made up of constant worry, planning and fretting.
God’s way is to give alms, pray and fast in secret; not to be seen of men – man’s is by public demonstration.
God’s way is to bring peace on earth by man’s personal surrender – man’s way is by force of arms and conquest.
God’s way of social life is to make feasts for the poor, lame, maimed and outcasts – man’s way is to make them for friends who are well provided for, the rich and influential.
Our finite minds are incapable of comprehending the true Omnipotence and Omniscience of God, and the following words recorded in the book of Job 11: 7 – 8 reflect the awesomeness of God:-
Can you find out the deep things of God, or can you by searching find out the limit of the Almighty [explore His depths, ascend to His heights, extend to His breadths, and comprehend His infinite] perfection?
His wisdom is high as the heights of heaven! What can you do? It is deeper than Sheol [the place of the dead]! What can you know?
Part Two continued…….
Higher Ways [Part Two]
John 3:16
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.
God’s way is to put away grudges and all bitterness – man’s is to hold them and seek revenge.
God’s way is not to take a matter [between brethren] to law – man’s is to do this.
God’s way is to lend, hoping nothing in return – man’s is not to lend without security and gain.
God’s way is to judge not – man’s is to judge.
God’s way is to do unto others as one would wish to be done unto – man’s is to take advantage of others regardless of the outcome.
God’s way is to rejoice and glory in persecution and trouble – man’s is to fight back, resent and take revenge.
God’s way is to be kind to enemies and feed them – man’s way is to repay them for their wrong-doing.
God’s way is to be friendly with the lowest and all other classes – man’s is to show respect of persons, preferring those who can return them personal gain.
God’s way is to forgive 490 times – man’s to forgive a few times, and only when necessary.
God’s way is not to boast or seek His own things – man’s way is to brag and seek things for self.
God’s way is to labour and give to others – man’s to labour for self only, and ignore others.
God’s ways, thoughts, purposes, and acts are, generally speaking, different from those of man. His plan of creation and redemption are different from what man’s would have been, as well as His way of government.
TRULY, JUST AS THE HEAVENS ARE INFINITELY HIGHER THAN THE EARTH, SO GOD’S WAY AND THOUGHTS ARE ABOVE MAN’S.
If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink – He that believeth on Me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water [JOHN 7: 37-38].
Out of the believer will flow unlimited power to do the works of Christ – as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God – even to them that believe on His Name; which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Therefore, on the ground of His Word, with the accessible flow of unlimited power, as the sons of God, we must strive to habitually practice His ways, until it becomes second nature to us.
Isaiah 55:9
For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts. As rain and snow water the earth, in making it fruitful, so God’s word will accomplish its purpose.
SIX ASPECTS – His ways and thoughts higher. [Dake]
IN PARDON:
Men never would have planned pardon for enemies, as God did for those who devote themselves to destroying their plans, works and purposes. Men seek revenge on all such and harbor malice and hatred, whereas God planned redemption an untold glories for His enemies. [John 3:16; Romans 5:8]
IN NUMBER OF OFFENCES:
Under favorable and special circumstances men forgive a few times, but they are prone not to forgive repeated offences. God forgives freely many times and as completely and lovingly the last time as the first. [Matt. 12:32; 18:21-22; Rev. 22:17]
IN NUMBER OF OFFENDER:
Men may pardon one person or a few who injure them, but the greater the numbers the less they are inclined to forgive. God forgives all regardless of the number of offenders.
[John 3:16; 1 Tim 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9; Rev. 22:17]
IN KINDS OF OFFENCES:
Men usually limit themselves as to what kind of offences they will forgive; but God has no qualifications on this point, except the offence of rejecting the only means of help He can offer. [Matthew 12:31-32]
IN DEGREE OF OFFENCES:
Men will forgive if an offence is small enough not to be of any great injury to them; but God will forgive the greatest and most aggravated offences against Him. [Isaiah 53: John 3:16]
IN MODE OF PARDON:
Men may be willing to forgive if it does not cost them much, and they can see such is to their advantage; but God gave the most precious gift of heaven that He might have a basis of forgiveness for His enemies. God redeems on the basis of personal suffering and having substituted Himself to be punished instead of His enemies. He forgives by the very one whom men sought to destroy, the one made to endure the most horrible sufferings ever laid upon a human being. He blesses by faith in the blood atonement of the death of an innocent person. Man would have punished the guilty and satisfied justice; but God punished the innocent to justify the guilty. In fact the whole program of reconciliation of enemies to God is of such a high level that men could never have planned it.
Genesis 28:12, 13, 15, 17
And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to Heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!
And behold, the Lord stood over and beside him…..
And behold, I am with you, and will keep [watch over you with care, and take notice of] you wherever you may go, and I will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done all of which I have told you.
He was afraid, and said, How to be feared and reverenced is this place! This is none other than the House of God, and THIS IS THE GATEWAY TO HEAVEN!
“There is an open way between heaven and earth for each of us!
The movement of the tide and the circulation of the blood are not more regular than the inter-communication between heaven and earth. Jacob may have thought that God is local; now he found Him to be omnipresent.
Every lonely spot has His House, filled with angels”. [F.B. Meyer in Through the Bible Day by Day.]
When Jacob found God in HIS OWN HEART, HE FOUND HIM EVERYWHERE.
Nothing belongs to us, not even our selves. Strictly speaking, we do not even own our private feelings and thoughts. The fact that God asserts his absolute ownership at this point in the book is significant for how we understand personal pain or loss. Bitter as this “pill” may be to swallow, we have to acknowledge that God doesn’t owe us a thing. Whether he gives or takes away (see Job 1:21), or even if he allows our bodies or minds to be wracked with pain, we are to praise and adore his name. This is not to say that we are necessarily to thank him for pain or calamity (though this may sometimes be appropriate). But he does expect us to praise him in spite of and through the hard times. What would it mean for us to truly live in the light of God’s absolute ownership, to live out in our daily lives the knowledge that we have been “bought at a price” (cf. Ps 24:1; 50:10; 1Co 6:20; 7:23)? And what a price!
Bestselling author Philip Yancey has delved deeply into the “problem” of pain. He addresses the quintessential human question: Where is God when it hurts? Yancey’s final thoughts from his book by the same title:
He has been there from the beginning, designing a pain system that still, in the midst of a fallen, rebellious world, bears the stamp of His genius and equips us for life on this planet.
He has watched us reflect His image, carving out great works of art, launching mighty adventures, living out this earth in a mixture of pain and pleasure when the two so closely coalesce they sometimes become almost indistinguishable.
He has used pain, even in its grossest forms, to teach us, asking us to let it turn us to Him. He has stooped to conquer …
He has let us cry out and echo Job with louder and harsher fits of anger against Him, blaming Him for a world we spoiled.
He has allied Himself with the poor and suffering, establishing a kingdom tilted in their favor, which the rich and powerful often shun.
He has promised supernatural strength to nourish our spirit, even if our physical suffering goes unrelieved …
He is with us now, ministering to us through His Spirit and through members of His body who are commissioned to bear us up and relieve our suffering for the sake of the head.
He is waiting, gathering the armies of good. One day He will unleash them. The world will see one last explosion of pain before the full victory is ushered in. Then, he will create for us a new, incredible world. And pain shall be no more.
Think About It
Why do people sometimes feel that God “owes” them something?
What is it in human nature that leads people to question God?
How is it possible to praise God in and through your pain?
Pray About It
With a friend or in a group, as the body of Christ, lift up each other’s pain and sorrows to God in prayer.
This passage paints a picture of the brevity of human life. “At least,” sighs Job, in what may sound sarcastic to our cynical ears, “there is hope for a tree …” (Job 14:7). Job’s comparison of a person’s fragility to that of a flower (see Job 15:2) is an ironically opposite image. We are reminded of David’s words in Psalm 103:15-17: “The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But [and this caveat means everything to us as believers] from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him.” Job had a God-inspired inkling about redemption (see Job 19:25), but it was ill-formed, a vague hope groping beyond the light of the revelation God had to that point made available to humankind.
Historical theologian and national spokesman for the Cornwall Alliance for Environmental Stewardship E. Calvin Beisner observes:
What we ought to expect, if we believe in the transforming power of Christ in the lives of the redeemed and, through them, on the cultures in which they live, is an increasing reversal of the effects of the Curse, a progressive transformation that parallels the growth-both intensive and extensive-of Christianity through the centuries. While Biblically sound social analysis repudiates the secularist ideology of inevitable Progress, nonetheless the Christian doctrines of creation, fall, curse, redemption, and consummation equip us with a linear concept of time and a Biblically grounded faith that God is indeed working in time and space to restore this fallen and cursed world to glory (Mt 13:24-43), and we ought to see-and can see if we are looking-evidences of this in history.
Job’s imagery of a tree “dying” and rising again at the scent of water is striking in light of Beisner’s reflections (though the analogy was certainly not intended by either Job or by this modern author) (see Job 14:8-9).
In terms of historical progression, Job lived under the curse (temporally speaking, the cross was yet far off, though God in his grace would offer to his Old Testament saints glimpses of salvation; see Jn 8:56; Gal 3:8; Heb 4:2). We, on the other hand, find ourselves blessed to be living on the stepping-stone of redemption. Our sights are set on the rock-solid certainty of a glorious future with Christ. God’s Old Testament people knew little of curse reversal (and God will deal with them on the basis of what he did choose to reveal in the days before Christ). Indeed, our stewardship of the planet covers a dimension they could not fully have foreseen. Having moved from curse to redemption, we are invited to travel confidently and diligently, in faith and at work, toward consummation, that glorious completion of all God’s work.
Think About It
How do you think that God revealed glimpses of future redemption to the Old Testament saints?
In what ways do you see glimpses of God reversing the curse in your world?
What does it mean to travel confidently toward consummation? It all began in a garden and will end in a city. What role does our work play in moving along God’s plan for creation?
Pray About It
Lord, I praise your work in the past, present and future for the redemption and restoration of all things.
God is right in everything he is and does. His goodness, in other words, is the shape of the way he relates to others. There is nothing God has ever done that is not right and nothing he will ever do that is not right. Justice is God’s rightness-his righteousness-applied in matters of judgment. In the final judgment, God will do what is right; and in the everyday flow of decisions, deliberations, and minor judgments, God’s opinion is unfailingly right, and thus good. Probably none of us fully realize just how much we need the judgment of God. Life presents us with puzzles. The pieces lie before us-all the complex factors going into a major decision, or the confusing signals we get from the people in our lives. We need to make good judgments, ones that account for all the pieces, and that pull the pieces together.
I have talked to many people trying to figure out how God views a relative who is acting in spiritual rebellion, or to those who are in pain over the eternal destiny of a loved one who recently passed away. Time and again I go back to Genesis 18:25 where Abraham, contemplating the impending judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah said, “Will not the judge of all the earth do right?”
Abraham was saying, surely God makes moral distinctions between good and evil, or else what hope do we have? When a matter seems too expansive for us to make a judgment, we can trust that God will view it with righteousness, and that his response will be just.
Romans 3:21-26 speaks of the God who is righteous, and who makes us righteous–the God who is just, and who justifies:
“ But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,[i] through the shedding of his blood-to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished- he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
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