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Panic Podcast – Give Yourself!
Published November 24, 2025 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: Dedication, devotion, doctrine, God's sovereignty, living sacrifice, Stewardship, total depravity, whole life stewardship
WHAT IS MAN, ANYWAY?
Published January 11, 2013 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: creastion, doctrine, man, sin
Last year, we studied Theology (God) and Angelology (Angels). Now we will turn our attention to Man, Anthropology.
1. The creation of man
Man is not an animal. Some men behave like animals, but he is not an animal. Of the creation of animals, we read this in Genesis:
God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:25)
Animals were created “after their kinds.” In other words, God created the various species of every animal on Earth and then simply left them to grow, reproduce, and develop according to the laws of their species. However man’s creation was different:
So God created man in his own image,in the image of God he created him;male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)
Man’s creation was special for man was created “in the image of God.” That is what separates man from the rest of creation. What does “the image of God” mean? The Hebrew word behind “image” or “likeness” in some translations means “the shadow or outline of a figure.”
So in what ways is man, as opposed to animals, a “shadow or outline” of God?
It does not refer to a physical likeness
God is 100% Spirit and does not have a body or body parts like man. Some religions teach that God is simply a superhuman man-like being or a man who evolved to a state of perfection. But there is more science fiction in these views than serious Biblical theology.
It is true that there are verses of Scripture that speak of God walking with man or sitting on His throne or holding things in His hands. But these verses are often poetic, not necessarily meant to be taken literally. There are verses that speak of God’s wings and His feathers, but that doesn’t mean He is a gigantic bird or chicken. Sometimes in the Old Testament God condescended to appear to a man as a man in the form of “the angel of the Lord” or appeared like a man in visions.
Theologians are quick to point out that man was created to walk upright, not to crawl along like an animal. He was created healthy in every way, with no physical defects of any kind and man was originally created not subject to death. In those senses, man was created more “like” God and different from animals.
Man was created to have fellowship with God
Unlike any animal, man was made to commune with his Creator. This makes him like his Creator because we see the members of the Trinity having fellowship with one another. Animals, however, were given instincts by God to obey. Even though man was made from “the dust of the earth,” God breathed into him the breath of life. While animals are alive, only man has “the breath of life in him,” meaning only man is capable of knowing, loving, and serving God by choice and not instinct.
Because the image of God is in man by creation, all men are, by creation, children of God. However, since that image has been spoiled by sin, man must be born again in order to be true children of God:
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24)
Man has a moral character
Man, like God, has morality; he has the ability to recognize wrong from right. An animal may be taught to do certain things, even very good things, but they have no inherent sense of right and wrong and they do not have any sense of morality.
Hodge wrote:
He is the image of God, and bears and reflects the divine likeness among the inhabitants of the earth, because he is a spirit, an intelligent, voluntary agent; and as such he is rightfully invested with universal dominion [of the earth].
Man, not the animals, was given dominion over the earth. When man sinned, man’s dominion over the Earth suffered. The planet is still his, but now he has to contend with wild animals (and radical environmentalists). Man, by virtue of his likeness to God, was originally created to be lord of his planet, and was commanded by God to populate it. Obviously, a lord must have his subjects. By virtue of his God-likeness, all living creatures on the Earth, including human beings, have been given to man to subject and care for, not to abuse. Man, as originally created, was to be God’s visible representative on Earth. We can see how sin has ruined this, with the rise of tyrants and wars, murders and crime, and things like that.
God and man have similar mental capacities
God is a Spirit, man has a spirit and a soul. The essential attributes of a spirit are things like reason, the will, and conscience. This is why man is capable of thinking rationally and is a free moral agent. This distinguishes human beings from any other living being on Earth: he can chose right from wrong based on a sense of morality within him. This obviously does not mean man will always make the right choice, only that he is capable of it.
Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Colossians 3:9, 10)
The renewal spoken of in Colossians begins with regeneration – a fallen man being born again.
Man, like God, is immortal
Man’s body will eventually wear out and die, returning to the ground from which it came. But the immaterial side of man, his soul and spirit, is immortal. Man will live forever, with or without a relationship with Jesus Christ. Without Christ in his life, a man will live forever separated from God and goodness. With Christ as Savior, man will spend eternity in Heaven, with God and in peace.
2. The nature of man
Tri-unity
God is a Trinity; He is triune – He is made up of three distinct Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Three Persons, yet one God. Man, though, is not a Trinity; he is a tri-unity.
In the Old Testament, we read this:
Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)
The OT confirms that man has both a material and an immaterial side. However, in the New Testament, we read this:
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
In the NT, man is said to have not two (material and immaterial) parts, but three: body, soul, and spirit. To this day, scholars are divided on this, some see man with two parts, others three. Both sides of this argument are correct. The spirit and soul are just two sides of man’s immaterial side. The soul and spirit are just two modes in which man’s spiritual nature operates. The soul and the spirit are so closely linked, though they are separate, they cannot be separated. Because of this, the terms “soul” and “spirit” are often used interchangeably in the Bible.
Though used interchangeably, we can see that the soul and the spirit have distinct meanings. For example, a man’s “soul” is used in reference to his present life and seems to refer to his mental and emotional capacities and “spirit” is the part of man that passes to the other side at death. The spirit-side of man makes up his “higher character”; it is responsible for the quality of his character. The soul is different. The soul is seat of a man’s intellect and emotions. The soul uses the senses as it moves the body through the material world.
It is, admittedly, very difficult to separate soul and spirit for the purposes of definition. Those who believe that man is a tri-unity, often called “trichotomists” (as opposed to those who see man with just two parts are known as “dichotomists”), often cite the universe to support their belief. God Himself is triune—Father, Son, Holy Spirit—One being yet a Trinity. The material universe is a triad—energy, motion, and phenomena. Time is also a triad—future, present, and past. Even a man’s personality is a triad—intellect, sensibilities, and will. Therefore, man is essentially made up of three parts, perfectly integrated. A common way to look at the spirit/soul/body tri-unity is this:
Man is a spirit, he has a soul, and he lives in a body.
The soul
Animals, like men, have souls, though they don’t have spirits. At death, the soul of an animal, also like that of a man, leaves its body. Where it goes is a discussion for another day. But the soul of an animal is different from that of a man.
When God created all living creatures, there is no indication that God called them to a higher plane of living. They have no laws, for example. They have no Savior. Animals are never seen sinning. Animals are, in every way, inferior to man, and that’s where the difference comes in. Man’s soul is as far from the soul of an animal as his intellect is from that of an ant. Because of that inferiority, animals were made to be used by man as food, for example:
Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. (Genesis 9:3)
Animals were further made to serve man and even to provide sacrifices in substitution for man:
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. (Genesis 8:20)
But, while a man could kill an animal, the taking of a human life was punishable by death:
Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man. (Genesis 9:6)
So, while God created many kinds of living creatures on Earth, only man was made in God’s image and given Godlike qualities, like an understanding of morality and spirituality and especially the ability to have fellowship with his Creator. It was God the Creator and the great Architect of the Universe who put these qualities in man, not evolution and not chance. Man is, therefore, nothing like the animals around him. When God made man, there were all kinds of animals roaming the Earth, yet God said this:
So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. (Genesis 2:20)
They say that a dog is “man’s best friend.” Obviously that can’t be true in light of Genesis 2:20.
THE TRANSCENDENCY OF GOD
Published November 15, 2012 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: doctrine, theology, Transcendency of God
The Cat’s Eye Nebula lies three thousand light-years from Earth. One of the most famous planetary nebulae, NGC 6543 is over half a light-year across and represents a final, brief yet glorious phase in the life of a sun-like star
We have already discussed the “essence” or “substance” of God. God may be a Spirit, but that doesn’t mean He has no substance. Just because we can’t see Him doesn’t mean He has no essence. God has substance, He is a Person, and He has a personality, just as all living beings do. But God’s essence is not the same as ours. Even though He interacts with us and the rest of His creation, He dwells in another place; a realm different than ours yet existing alongside ours. From time to time in the history of the world, God has “crossed over” and inserted Himself in the history of the material universe, occasionally intervening in the affairs of man. God has condescended to relate to man in ways that man can understand and relate to.
In addition to essence, God possess certain attributes. God’s attributes are objective, arising out of His essence. That is, God is who He is, not what man perceives Him to be. God has attributes whether man sees them or not; whether man understands them or not.
There are two broad types of attributes that any living person may possess: “non-moral” and “moral” or God’s transcendent attributes and God’s immanent attributes. God’s non-moral or transcendent attributes would include things that are part of His nature; things like His omniscience, omnipotence, and so on. God’s moral attributes or His immanent attributes would include things like His righteousness and love.
We will begin with God’s transcendent, non-moral attributes.
1. God is omniscient
God’s omniscience means that God knows Himself and He knows all other things. Literally, God knows “all things.” Technically, it means that God knows all things, actual and possible; past, present, and future, and He knows all these from all eternity. God knows all things immediately and perfectly, simultaneously and exhaustively.
God is the source of all wisdom, Job 28:20—24
Where then does wisdom come from? Where does understanding dwell? It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing, concealed even from the birds in the sky. Destruction and Death say, “Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.” God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells, for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.
Job 28 is a watershed chapter, for in it some profound things are revealed to us about the storehouse of God’s wisdom. Job, even with his limited, finite mind, understood the true nature of wisdom. Because God is the creator of all things, God knows all things. Even though nature itself seems so profound and beyond understanding, God created it, therefore He understands it. Science reveals but a fraction of nature’s complexities to man. God knows all there is to know about the world man lives in.
God not only has a complete and perfect grasp of nature and the material world, He holds it all together!
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. (Hebrews 1:3a)
God’s exhaustive knowledge of man, Psalm 139:1—6
Jeremiah correctly observed something very profound about man:
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
“Know thyself” is a Greek saying of unknown origin, but it’s an impossible task! Man cannot fully “know himself” because, as Jeremiah said, man’s heart—his inner self—cannot be trusted to be truthful. Charnock wrote:
God knows Himself, wherein He excels all creatures. No man doth exactly know himself, much less doth he understand the full nature of a spirit; much less still the nature and perfection of God.
For centuries science and medicine have sought to unlock the mysteries of the human mind and the working of our emotions. But the inner man remains a mystery.
You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. (Psalm 139:1—6)
David, the poet of the soul, tried to understand himself; his thoughts and motives, but in the end concluded that only God could fully understand his inner man. God, David concluded, sees all and knows all, therefore only God can fully know the inner man.
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (verses 23, 24)
The mystery of God’s mind, Romans 11:33
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
If a man could live a thousand years, devoting himself to the study and understanding of the workings of God’s mind, his pursuit would be in vain. How can any mortal comprehend a God whose knowledge is so perfect and so complete that—
…even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. (Matthew 10:30)
The apostle Paul in Romans 8—11 considered God’s redemptive plan for mankind and he ended up simply marveling at God’s mind. Paul had been given the slightest glimpse into the inner workings of God’s mind and His thoughts and concluded that “his paths are beyond tracing out.” Even if God would tell us everything we wanted Him to, this is simply no way we could grasp what His words!
No doubt God wants man to learn all he can about Him, but in the end, our finite minds cannot grasp God’s infinite mind. However, what remains a mystery to us, is not a mystery to God. God knows Himself and He knows us perfectly.
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)
2. God is omnipotent
God is omnipotent, meaning “all powerful.” But this particular attribute of God means even more than that. It means that God is free and able to do whatever He wills. This may sound frightening, but it shouldn’t. Since God’s will is limited by His nature, then He will only do that which is in complete harmony with that nature.
There are some things God cannot do:
- He cannot look at sin;
- He cannot deny Himself – …if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself. (2 Timothy 2:13);
- He cannot lie – ...it is impossible for God to lie… (Hebrews 6:18);
- He cannot sin – ...God cannot be tempted by evil… (James 1:13)
Furthermore, God cannot do absurd things or anything that would go against His nature. God would not make a square circle or a rock too heavy to lift because God is not ridiculous nor would He do ridiculous things.
God’s power demonstrated in creation, Genesis 1:1, 2
The creation of the material universe and the immaterial universe are the purest manifestations of God’s absolute power. God created all things without using anything else; He literally brought things into existence where nothing existed before. There were no secondary causes in creation.
God’s power demonstrated in the life of Israel, Jeremiah 32:21, 27
When God works providentially in the life of believers, that is a manifestation of God’s ordinate power. From time to time in the life of the material universe, God has inserted Himself and intervened in the affairs of His people, causing things align themselves in such a way as to advance the His will and benefit His people.
You brought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror. “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me? (Jeremiah 32:21, 27)
God’s power explained by Paul, Ephesians 3:20
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…
Paul had been praying that his friends in Ephesus would experience the fullness of God’s presence in their lives. He wraps up his prayer with this profound thought: God’s power is at work in believers as they seek to do His will. In other words, as believers seek to serve the Lord, they become extensions of His power on earth!
Paul was a man intimately familiar with God’s power. It radically changed his life. It miraculously sustained and preserved his life. It supernaturally directed his every step. No wonder the apostle was able to say this:
I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:13)
3. God is omnipresent
God is everywhere, all the time, at the same time. In relation to man, God is literally all over His creation. This part of God’s transcendency should be obvious. If God is so big, He must be everywhere.
Perhaps the greatest Scriptural witness of this aspect of God’s transcendency is what David wrote in Psalm 139:7 – 12…
Where can I go from your Spirit?Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there;if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn,if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me,your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you;the night will shine like the day,for darkness is as light to you.
With us and beyond us, 2 Chronicles 6:18
“But will God really dwell on earth with men? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!”
King Solomon finally completed the Lord’s temple when he realized this profound truth. God cannot be contained in a room or a building. All around ancient Israel were nations that each their gods. Each nation, and even each people group with these nations, had gods that dwelled with them. These were local gods. But the God of Israel was no local God! He could not be contained to a temple or region. He is the God who is above and over all creation. Yet at the same time, that immense God chooses to dwell within His people. Faber notes:
For God is never so far off, as even to be near. He is within. Our spirit is in the home He holds most dear. To think of Him as by our side is almost as untrue as to remove His shrine beyond those skies of starry blue. So all the while I thought myself homeless, forlorn, and weary, missing my joy, I walked the earth myself God’s sanctuary.
The hapless prophet Jonah discovered the omnipresence of God the hard way. It took his being swallowed by a gigantic fish to acknowledge the fact that God is everywhere, even with him in the belly of a fish!
But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. (Jonah 1:3)
From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. (Jonah 2:1)
From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. (Jonah 2:10)
Believers should take great comfort and hope from this aspect of God’s transcendency. It means that no matter where a believer may find himself, in pleasure or in pain, God is there. When a loved one on the other side of the country is suffering, He is there, too. When tragedy strikes a believer on the other side of the world, God is also there.
But that which comforts the believer should terrify the unbeliever. There is nowhere they can hide from His view or eventually His judgment.
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:13)
THE ESSENCE OF GOD
Published November 14, 2012 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: doctrine, Essence of God, god is spirit, spirituality, theology
The terms “essence” and “substance” mean pretty much the same thing when used of God. The “essence” of God is that which is behind all outward manifestations of God – that is, God’s essence is the reality of God itself, material or immaterial. The “essence” of God refers to the basic aspect of the nature of God. God is not a philosophy or an idea or even the personification of an idea. God is a Person, He has “essence” and “substance.”
1. God is Spirit
“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
God is a substance, but not a material substance. God is a Spirit therefore He is a spiritual substance. As human beings, we are tripartite, that is, a person is a spirit, he has a soul, and lives in a body. When we look at people, we can’t see their immaterial parts – soul and spirit – only their material or physical part – the body. God has no body to observe and this fact enables skeptics and doubters to question God’s reality simply because we can’t observe Him or experience Him in the material realm. The Bible, however, makes plain the existence of another realm that is just as real as our material realm: the realm of the spirit. There is a dimension that exists alongside our dimension and this is the dimension in which God dwells. From Genesis onward we can observe God’s work in our dimension from His. For example, God created man in our dimension but gave him a spirit; we read about angelic (spirit) visitors, audible communications from God to people, and of theophanies, which are physical but limited manifestations of God clearly perceptible by man. From time to time, God breaks through from His realm into ours so that we may observe and experience Him, His presence, and the things of the spirit in a way that is real to us.
False worship
Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice. (Deuteronomy 4:12)
You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman… (Deuteronomy 4:15, 16)
God does not have a body like ours or like anything in our material world. The ancient Israelites were surrounded by nations that worshiped idols; gods they made in the image of things they could see with their eyes. God had commanded the Israelites not to make any images that would represent God; images that looked like things in the material world. Sadly, when the faith of the Israelites wavered, the first thing they did was to craft idols to help them worship an invisible God.
Real worship
“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24)
The Israelites fashioned idols to represent God. Because their faith was lacking, they needed something to see to help them worship Someone they could not see. “Why” the Israelites made idols is irrelevant because God expressly told them never to do it. God is a spirit, therefore His people must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Using a “worship aid,” like an idol, is not worshiping truthfully, rather it is dishonest worship because while a person may think they are worshiping the invisible God, they are in reality devoting themselves to the idol – the thing representing God.
Because human beings are tripartite beings, they must worship God with all of their being: body, soul, and spirit. Using an idol may get the body to worship but does nothing for the soul and spirit.
Freedom through the spirit
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom… (2 Corinthians 3:17)
Other translations read like this: “The Lord is that Spirit,” referring to Jesus Christ. When people turn to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, away from things like the Law of Moses, we experience spiritual freedom. The Israelites under Moses could not experience God personally; they had no freedom of worship. But Christ is not confined to the written word, He is “the” or “that” Spirit which may be worshiped anywhere, any time and His presence is wherever His people may be. Not only that, the Spirit of Christ is what sets people free from the bondage to both sin and the Law.
The divine nature of Christ
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. (Colossians 1:15)
The Son of God, as the second Person of the Trinity, was pure Spirit prior to His Incarnation. Through the Incarnation, the Son of God was united with human flesh to create the Man Jesus Christ – fully human and fully divine, one Person with two natures, perfectly united. The Father and the Son are equally God and united in purpose, yet two distinct Persons. Jesus Christ came to reveal God to us and to reconcile us to God.
Our invisible, immortal God
…who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:16)
On its surface, this verse seems to state the obvious. Immortality is nothing new. Angels are immortal. Demons are immortal. Even human beings are immortal in the sense that the body may die but the spirit lives on forever. However, all these immortal beings have “created immortality.” God is different because His immortality is inherent – its part of His essence. Our immortality is derived from Him.
2. God is a Person
Aristotle wrote about the “Prime Mover,” a force behind what we can see. Thomas Carlyle spoke of the “god-stuff” in religious rituals. Hegel and the other idealistic philosophers represented God as an impersonal spirit. All the smart people were wrong. God is a Spirit and He therefore must have a personality. The very fact that He relates to us must mean He is a Person, even if He is a Person at a level unfathomable by us.
Covenant maker
God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:14, 15)
Only people can make covenants or contracts with other people. God heard the cries of the Hebrews in Egypt and that moved Him to initiate a covenant with them through His friend Moses. God is a Person in a way that is a mystery to us, but that difference didn’t prevent Him from entering into a covenant with other people.
Deliverer
I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting people may know there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. (Isaiah 45:5, 6)
In this 8th century BC prophecy, God revealed to Isaiah that He would raise up a deliverer who would bring an end to the Babylonian Captivity and restore the Jews to their homeland in the 6th century. It was a very precise prophecy, God named this deliverer – Cyrus.
This passage of Scripture revealed to the Jews that God is both transcendent and immanent. He is transcendent in that He exists outside of our realm. God is not limited in any way by the things that limit us, including time. He alone knows “the beginning from the end,” so it shouldn’t surprise us that God named a man who was to be born 200 years hence! But God is also immanent; He is close to us and He is able to relate to us in our world. Just as He entered into a covenant with Moses, He spoke to Isaiah.
Provider
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. (Matthew 6:30 – 32)
During His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus stressed the idea that we shouldn’t put our trust in material things; that we shouldn’t worry about things in our material world. God looks after all of His creation, from living animals to inanimate things like flowers. But God, as He relates to human beings, is like a Father. All human fathers look after their children, how much more does God our Father look after us? It is part of God’s nature to care for those He created.
3. God is eternal and unchanging
Eternity in His hands
The idea of the “eternity of God” means that He is infinite in relation to time. That is, He is without beginning and without end. God is completely free from the constraints of time because time is a part of our dimension, not His. That God is eternal is taught throughout the Bible: Genesis 21:33; Psalm 90:2; 102:27; Isaiah 57:15; 1 Timothy 6:18.
God exists by reason of His nature, not His volition. He simply IS. God is, therefore, free from the succession of time. Eternity for God is now. In fact, we read this in 2 Peter 3:8 –
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day…
However, time does exist to God; He knows what a “day” is. Yet, He sees the past and future as clearly as He sees the present. How is this possible? It is simply because God is the cause of time!
By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. (Hebrews 11:3)
Unchanging, unchangeable
But the eternal God is also the unchangeable God. In theology we call this “the immutability of God.” Everything we are familiar with in our dimension changes, either for the better or for the worse. But God cannot change for the better because He is already absolutely perfect; He cannot change for the worse for the exact same reason. God is exalted over all things, even the possibility of change. God can never be any wiser, more compassionate, more truthful or more gracious. He is all these things in their totality.
I the Lord do not change. (Malachi 3:6)
God cannot possibly change, therefore when He speaks – when He makes a promise or gives His Word – His words are eternal in their force! That’s why God’s covenant with Israel, for example, is eternal.
Every single attribute of God; every aspect of His character is unchanging. From eternity past to eternity yet to come, nothing about God will change because He cannot change.
Similarly, Jesus Christ cannot change:
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)
What applies to God the Father must also apply to God the Son. Therefore, there is no expiration date on any of the benefits we have received through Jesus Christ. Forgiveness of sins never stops; victory over sin never ends, and our salvation never needs to be re-upped!
God is completely reliable
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Because God doesn’t change, He doesn’t change His mind, even though it may appear like He does to us. He can be counted on to do all things He said He would do, the way He said He would do them. He will not – He cannot – treat us differently than He has promised. Therefore, no matter what, He cannot love us less. He cannot help us more. He cannot disregard any of the promises He has made to His children. God already knows the end from the beginning. All this may be mysterious to us, but there are no mysteries to God. Nothing is hidden from Him, nothing is unknown to Him, and nothing takes Him by surprise.
When we consider these things about God – the fact that He is a Spirit, and a Person, that He is eternal and immutable – we should worship and exalt Him. Understanding these points of theology is not an intellectual exercise! The more we learn about God, the greater our wonder of Him grows. How can we not humbly bow down and worship a God who is so great?
Almighty God, The Great I AM, Immoveable Rock, Omnipotent, powerful, Awesome Lord, Victorious Warrior, Commanding Kings of Kings, Mighty Conqueror. And the only time, The only time I ever saw Him run, Was when He ran to me, Took me in His arms, held my head to His chest, And said, “My son’s come home again.” He lifted my face, wiped the tears from my eyes, And said, “Son, do you know I still love you?” He caught me by surprise, When God ran.God always catches us by surprise!
