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BY PASTOR GLENN PEASE
CONTENTS
1. THE GLORY OF GOD based on Rev. 21:9‑21
2. THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD based on II Pet. 1:2
3. GOD IS HOLY Based on Psa. 99
4. GOD IS LIGHT based on I John 1:5
5. GOD IS LOVE based on I John 4:7‑12
6.
GOD IS MERCIFUL based on Acts 17:16‑34
7.
GOD IS OMNIPOTENT PART 1
Based on Rev. 1:1‑8
9. GOD IS OMNISCIENT MATT.
11:20‑24
11. GOD IS MERCIFUL Based on Ps. 51:1
12. GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD Based on Psa. 99:1f
13. GOD IS OUR FRIEND Based on
Luke 15:11‑32
14. ROCK OF AGES Based on Psa. 61
1. THE
GLORY OF GOD based on Rev. 21:9‑21
The heavens declare the glory of God, and that is why the
study of astronomy is so fascinating. It is constantly confirming what God has
revealed in His word. Many Christians look at God's revelation of the heavenly
city and conclude that it must be symbolical and not literal. A fourteen hundred square mile city of gold
with the walls loaded with precious gems seems a little too extravagant even
for God. But then comes the March 1992
issue of Science News, and it is
revealed that scientists have found literal jewels in the heavens. They have found, not just the glorious light
of stars, galaxies, and supernovas, but actual diamonds in the sky.
A NASA team in Hawaii, using an infrared telescope, found what
they are convinced are real diamonds and three Milky Way clouds. They knew there were diamonds out there
somewhere already, for in 1987 diamonds were found in meteorites that fell to
earth. These researchers have concluded
that the carbon dust that gives rise new stars is as much as ten percent in the
form of diamonds. They feel there is
likely to be diamonds in every molecular cloud in the heavens.
The point is, when we read this description of the heavenly
city made of gold and precious stones, we do not have to back away from the
literal interpretation, as if God does not have the know how or the power to
produce such an abundance of precious stones.
If man could get at them he could fill the Grand Canyon with diamonds
that God has already created in stellar spaces.
The reason I take this picture literally is not just because
of any scientific discovery, but because John tells us in verse 11 that the
city shown with the glory of God and its brilliance was like a very precious
jewel. If this is not literal, then it
has to be greater than the literal, for God's glory will never be less than the
glory of the kings of the earth, who splendor will be brought into the city, as
John says in verse 24. I have seen
pictures of the crown jewels of the royalty of the earth. They are awesome in their glory. It is a valid assumption that God, the king
of the universe, will have a glory that is so superior to theirs, that it will
take our entire vocabulary of words dealing with light and jewels to describe
it. Words like brilliant, magnificent,
glorious, lustrous, regal, resplendent, dazzling, luminous, radiant, gleaming,
glittering, glistening, and a host of others.
It's a city of gold and
jewels,
For it's God's glory that we
share.
Only the boldest of fools
Would want to miss being
there.
In America The Beautiful, we sing the last verse‑‑
"O beautiful for
patriot dream
that sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities
gleam,
Undimmed by human
tears!"
And in the chorus we sing,
"May God thy gold refine," and, "Crown thy good with brotherhood
from sea to shining sea." All
these terms of gold, gleaming, and shining are ideals of man. He wants his cities to shine with the glory
of gold and brilliant light. That ideal
will never be complete until God builds the city. That is just what John saw in his vision of the golden city of
heaven. Man has done some impressive
things in his cities, but only the city of heaven will shine with the very
glory of God.
Emerson said, "I always seem to suffer some loss of faith
on entering cities." They can look
quite impressive as you approach and see the new buildings on the skyline. The vast array of gleaming windows can be
awesome, but when you get there you are hit by the reality that the beautiful
city is filled with corruption.
Aristotle felt the government should prevent people from accumulating in
cities, for they become hot beds of corruption. We see the truth of his conviction in every large city. Jesus wept over the largest city He ever
entered, the Old Jerusalem, because of it's corruption and resistance to the
will of God. That city and it's leaders
killed the very Son of God, and revealed just how corrupt the city could be,
even when the most glorious works of man are all around. The beautiful temple with it's treasure of
gold and works of art did not prevent such corruption.
Jesus loved all the beauty and glory of the temple, but he
wept for the people, for they were rejecting the one all this beauty pointed
to. Hitler and the Gestapo leaders
would feast in luxury with the world's finest art all about them. Then they would enjoy the exquisite beauty
of the best classical music. Yet, from
that setting of grandeur they could go forth to kill, in cold blood, millions
of innocent people. The glory of what
man can create is impressive, but man cannot be changed by the glory of
man. Man can only be changed in any
deep and permanent way by the glory of God.
What is the glory of God?
It is basically those aspects of God's character and power that we can
see. Contrary to the idea that all we
know of God we must take by faith, the Bible says there is much that we can see
of God's glory. The heavens declare it,
that is, they reveal it to man. The
works of God in His visible creation are of such conspicuous glory that God
holds man accountable for seeing it, and
praising Him for it. Those who refuse to see the Glory of God in
creation are willfully blind, and they will be judged. Paul says in Rom. 1:19‑20,
" Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made
it plain to them. 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." What a paradox! There is no excuse for not
seeing the invisible nature of God.
The idea that non‑Christians cannot see the glory of God
in creation is a direct rejection of Paul's clear teaching. We should expect
just the opposite according to Paul. We should expect non‑Christians to
be able to see and write about the glory of God. Christians do no have a
monopoly on seeing the glory of God. We should be able to read the poetry of
other religions and see that they too see the glory of God. Paul makes it clear
in verse 21 that non‑Christians have knowledge of God. He writes of the
pagan world, "For although they knew God they neither glorified him as God
nor gave thanks to Him." Paul says they knew God. They blew it and lost
sight of His glory. They went after idols instead, but the point is, they did
know God.
The implications of this are astounding. For one thing, it
means we do not need to be threatened by the wonderful things we can read about
God in the religious literature of the world. We are to expect to find such
things, even in pagan literature, for it is inexcusable blindness for men not
to see the glory of God in what He has made. Sincere seeking pagans will
discover a great deal of God's glory. This ought not to be a surprise, for it
confirms what Paul says. The goal of life is to see the glory of God.
Moses said to God in Ex.33:18, "Show me Thy glory." Moses
had seen the wonder of God's power in delivering the people of Israel from
Egypt. He had seen more miracles than anybody in history, and yet he is not
satisfied. He wanted to see the very glory of God's being. He saw the
miraculous pillars of fire and smoke that led them by day and by night, but now
he wanted the best. He wanted to see the ultimate glory. He wanted to see the
very essence of God. He saw the burning bush and he talked with God, but now he
wanted God to come out from hiding behind his symbolic miracles and show
himself directly. He wanted a glimpse of
God in person.
God responded to this request by telling Moses is was a
request for death. No person could look on God and live. He did, however, let
Moses get in a cleft of the rock, for protection, and get a glimpse of God from
the back. He got a glimpse of God's glory and that was the fulfillment of his
greatest goal. That is the ultimate goal of man, and that is the point of the
heavenly city. It is the place where we get to finally see the glory of God in
all its fullness. Like Moses, we only get a glimpse of that glory now, at best.
We can see it everywhere in His creation, but then we will see it in His
person.
Gwynn McLendon Day, in Gleams of Glory, writes,
"As I stand in the glow
of the rising sun and am drenched by
the other‑world
splendor of its golden flood, I see something
of the glory of God. As I
gaze into the jeweled heavens at
midnight and wonder at their
sparkling beauty and infinitude,
I experience something of
his glory. The flaming sunset, the
flashing lightning, the
silent snowstorm, the rolling thunder, and
the fragrant flowers are
intimations of his majestic splendor.
Truly, "the whole earth
is full of his glory." Tennyson phrased it:
The sun, the moon, the
stars, the seas, the
hills and the plains,‑‑
Are not these, O Soul, the
Vision of Him
who reigns?
The manifestations of God in
nature are just the outer fringes of
his garment. As splendid, as
awe‑inspiring, and as revealing as
they are, these do not
satisfy the soul's yearning for God.
And so she prays, "Show us thy glory, O our Father! It is
all about us, but we are blind and unobserving. Open the eyes of our souls that
we may see thee and know thee in all the majestic fullness of thy revelation to
men. In the name of thy glorious Son we pray. Amen." This is the dream, the goal, the desire, and
the aspiration of all of God's children. To see the glory of God in all its
fullness is our final destiny. That is why glory is such a vast subject in the
Bible.
The word glory is found 194 times in the Old Testament and 161
times in the New testament, for a total of 355 times. This does not even count
the use of the word to glorify. Yet it is a greatly neglected subject. Charles
Ryrie in his book, Transformed By His Glory, checked into 8 standard theology
books, and he discovered that only 2 of them referred to the glory of God. Six
of them had absolutely nothing to say about this vital subject, and one of them
was his own book, and that is why he wrote a whole book on the subject, to
offset his previous neglect. The subject is complex, but the essence of it is
simple. Glory is a visual display of what is pleasing to the eye, and thus,
awesome to the mind. Whatever, by its brilliance or beauty, stimulates
admiration, has a glory.
If the fire works display is really good, it is glorious, for
it is a visual treat. If the model home
you go through is full of bright pleasing colors, and all is so clean and fresh,
you experience the glory of what man can produce. Glory is a visual term. It
has to do with what you see. The present glimpses of the glory of God, which we
see in His creation are to fill us with anticipation about what we will see in
the glorious city of gold. W. Seeker
wrote, "When you survey the spacious firmament, and behold it hung with
such resplendent bodies, think‑‑if the suburbs be so beautiful,
what must the city be!"
Stained glass windows are often great works of art, and they
are glorious to behold. But from the
outside they are not all that impressive.
They have to be seen from the inside with the sunlight coming through to
be seen in the fullness of their glory.
That is why we will never see the fullness of God's glory until we see
it from within that golden transparent city.
There the light of His glory will flood our eyes with color and beauty
that is beyond anything we can imagine.
But the Bible often reminds us, what will be in it's fullness is already
a part of the now. Lois Blanchard has
captured this idea in her poem There Are Some Shining Moments,
"There are some shining
moments
When we can almost see
Across the gulf that
separates
Us from eternity.
When all the clouds are
lifted
And everything is bright,
There are some shining
moments
When our faith is almost
sight.
There are some shining
moments
When va1ues seem so clear,
When things of earth are far
away
And things of God are near.
There is no inner struggle
To go the way we should.
There are some shining
moments
When we know what things are
good.
There are some shining
moments
When the cares of life
recede
And all the things that
trouble us
Seem trivial indeed.
And even deeper sorrows
Find solace in that hour.
There are some shining
moments
When we know God's lifting
power.
There are these shining
moments.
They come not every day;
For we may walk through
swirling clouds
Great portions of the way.
So tread the path they
brighten
When these shining moments
come;
For they are heaven's
lanterns
To light the journey
home."
God's glory lights even the earthly cities of time to some
degree, and that degree gets greater as His children reflect His glory. Paul tells us how we can practice being in
heaven. We don't have to wait to see
the glory of God. It is displayed in
great measure in time, and we can begin now to taste of the things to
come. Whoever heard of practicing to be in heaven? Where do we see such instructions? We see them in Phil.4:8, "Finally brothers, whatever is
true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is
lovely, whatever is admirable‑‑if anything is excellent or
praiseworthy‑‑think about such things." This brings heaven to
earth, for Paul goes on in the next verse and says, practice this and the God
of peace will be with you. Focus your
life on the glorious and you will reflect the glorious.
If Moses, who met with God for 40 days, became radiant with
the glory of God, what will be the effect on those who dwell with God forever
in the fullness of His glory? The Bible
tells us they will share in the glory of God.
This is the final and ultimate gift of God to His people, but it was the
first gift to His Son. In John 17:24
Jesus prayed, "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where
I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me
before the creation of the world..
Glory is love made visible, Jesus is saying. All gifts are some degree of glory. They are often shining like jewelry, or gorgeous colors, like
flowers. But even if they are a dull
pair of black or brown gloves they convey a glory, for they are visible objects
that say to another I love you.
Love and glory are linked together inseparably so that with
any love you also have a glory. This is
illustrated by the old Negro engine man who loved his job on the cargo boat on
the great lakes. When he was asked how
he managed to keep his engine room so bright and shining, he replied, "Oh!
I gotta glory!" The poet put this
practical theology in verse‑
Oh! You gotta get a glory
In the work you do;
A Hallelujah chorus
In the heart of you.
Paint, or tell a story,
Sing, or shovel coal,
But you gotta get a glory
Or the job lacks soul.
The great, whose shining labours
Make our pulses throb,
Were men who got a glory
In their daily job.
The battle might be gory
And the odds unfair
But the men who got a glory
Never knew despair.
Oh, Lord, give me a glory,
When all else is gone!
If you've only got a glory
You can still go on. Author unknown
Anything you love you
will glorify, and this helps us grasp how we can glorify God. We are to love Him with all our hearts,
minds, and soul, and when we do we will share in His glory, and reflect
it. The diamond glorifies the sun by
reflecting its glory. We glorify the
Son of heaven, the Lord Jesus, by reflecting His glory. The whole idea of being the light of the
world is glorify Jesus by reflecting the light of His love in this dark world. This is the way God's people have always
glorified Him. God would turn His face
toward them and shine on them like the sun.
They in turn would look to His face and become radiant. Then they would reflect His grace in the
world. Psalm 34:5 says, "Those who
look to Him are radiant." The more
men look at the glory of God the more they will radiate that glory. Paul says it clearly in II Cor.3:18,
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,
are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of
the Lord."
Every Christian is becoming brighter or dimmer, depending on
the exposure to the glory of God. If
you are just to busy to spend time beholding the glory of God in His Word or
His works, you will cease to shine and lose the glow that reflects His
glory.
"The light you are
reflecting
Be it bright or be it dim,
Is shining in the measure
Of the time you spend with
Him."
2. THE
KNOWLEDGE OF GOD based on II Pet. 1:2
Columbus was on his fourth voyage in 1504. His ships were
grounded in St. Ann's Bay in Jamaica, and the natives revolted and refused to
supply the Spaniard with food. There seemed to be no way of escaping the
agonies of starvation. Columbus was looking at the almanac, and he learned that
a total lunar eclipse was coming. On the evening it was due he called for the
natives to assemble and told them that unless they repented and helped them God
would blot out the moon, the sun, and the stars, in that order. He pointed to
the moon which had already begun to darken. The natives were terrified and
begged Columbus to intercede for them. Delivering food was resumed at once, and
Columbus promised that disaster would be averted. The darkness passed, and
nothing happened, of course, and the natives never revolted again.
Here is an example of the power of knowledge. Because Columbus
understood the workings of God's creation, he was able to save his life and the
lives of his men. Knowledge enabled him to dominate and manipulate the natives
who were ignorant and superstitious. The weak are almost always weak because of
ignorance, and the strong are almost always strong because of superior
knowledge. This is supported by Scripture, reason, history, and experience. Knowledge
is power because it leads to the discovery of the means of power. America is
the strongest nation in the world because of its superior technological
knowledge, and because it has been able to tap the resources of power in God's
creation. Only those nations that are also in possession of this knowledge are
any challenge. In some nations wood is still the primary fuel. As nations
advance they use greater sources of power right up to nuclear fuel. Growth in
knowledge leads to growth in power. This is beyond dispute.
This being so, it follows that growth in the knowledge of God
should lead to greater power in the spiritual realm. We do not need to
speculate on this, for this is precisely what Peter and the whole of the Bible teaches.
Paul longed to know Christ and the power of his resurrection. The two go
together. In the knowledge of God and of Christ is the power to be and become
all that we should be. Peter says in verse 2 that "grace and peace be
multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." Grace
and peace are two major values for the Christian life, and Peter says they are
multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Christ. Growing in grace and peace is
a matter of knowing God better.
Then Peter goes on in verse 3 and says, "His divine power
has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of
him..." In verse 5 knowledge is one of the things that we are to
diligently add to our faith. In verse 8 the goal of all is from the negative
side that we shall not be unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Then in 2:20 Peter says the power that enables men to escape the evil forces of
the world is the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He closes this
letter by writing, "But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ." If we had nothing but II Peter, we could say that
the knowledge of God is the power of God, and the means to all His benefits and
promises.
This means modern man is so close to the truth and yet so far.
The worldly wise know that knowledge is power. In fact, knowledge has become
their idol. The success of science in demonstration the power of knowledge has
led to knowledge and education being held forth as the panacea for all our
problems, and the cure for all our diseases. Knowledge is the modern Messiah,
which will bear our burdens and heal our diseases. Salvation through science is
the only hope that millions even consider today.
The tragedy is that they have the right answer, but the wrong
object. Knowledge is the answer, but not knowledge of the creation, but
knowledge of the Creator. Modern man is making the same foolish mistake the
ancient wise men made. Paul in Romans 1 says they had the revelation of God,
and they could have chosen Him, but in
their wisdom they became fools and chose the impersonal handiwork of God and
ignored the personal love and purpose of God. Man is becoming an expert on the
disease, but ignoring the cure completely. He has the right idea that knowledge
is power, but he is blind to the highest and most necessary kind of power that
man needs, which is spiritual power. He neglects the knowledge of God, the only
source of such power. Modern men, in general, have a thirst for knowledge of everything, but what they most need they
most neglect. They are like Mark Twain when he received an invitation to dine
with the Emperor of Germany. His little daughter said to him innocently,
"You'll soon know everybody except God, won't you papa?" This is the
judgment on modern man. He is anxious to know everything and everyone but God.
God is being pushed out of the curriculum in the college of
life for masses. There are too many supposedly more realistic and practical
subjects to study. The feeling is that what cannot be known according to the
scientific method is not really knowledge, but myth and superstition. Science
is like the self‑sufficient college head who said, "I am the master
of this college, and what I don't know isn't knowledge." God is excluded, and the result is man has
been able to develop cures for almost everything but the major things, like sin
and alienation from God. Science alone is like the medicine chest that one
wrote about.
Is my finger bleeding and
cut nearly off? In my medicine chest there's a cure for a cough.
Is a tooth shooting pins out
in every direction? Here is something thats good for a hang nail infection.
Have I poison ivy and need
for a lotion? Well, here, all unused, is a seasick potion.
My medicine chest's never
known to fail me...It's bursting with cures for what doesn't ail me.
This is the weakness of science when it comes to the issue of
solving the sin problem, which keeps individuals and the world in the same miserable
mess in spite of all the scientific successes. Physical power is not enough,
for man need spiritual power, and this can only be found in the knowledge of
God and of Jesus Christ. The task of the church is not to denounce science and
growth in the knowledge of the natural. This is both futile and foolish, for
man's mistake is not in studying God's creation. It is in neglecting to study
God Himself. This would enable man to use his knowledge of creation for even
more good to fulfill the purpose of its Creator. The Christian is not for the prevention of the knowledge of
creation, but for the promotion of the knowledge of the Creator.
Over half a century ago Thomas Huxley praising the advances of
science declared that the nation which sticks closest to the facts will
dominate the future. Edward Miall, a member of Parliament agreed, but he added,
"The greatest fact is God." This is what we must believe and persuade
others to believe; and not just non‑Christians, but Christians as well.
They are often the cause for the unbeliever ignoring God. Believers often have
such a poor, small and pathetic conception of God that the unbeliever feels
that He is an irrelevant fact. Goethe
wrote, "As a man is, so is his God, therefore was God so often an object
of mockery." Someone said that if a triangle had a god it would give him
three sides. In other words, God created us in His image, and we tend to return
the favor and reduce Him to our image. Emerson put it, "The god of the
cannibal will be a cannibal, of the crusader a crusader, and of the merchant a
merchant." Walter Bagehot wrote,
The Ethiop gods have Ethiop
lips,
Bronze cheeks, and woolly
hair,
The Grecian gods are like
the Greeks
As keen‑eyed, cold,
and fair.