The Attributes of God, part 2

Q: What does the Bible say about God's sovereignty?

The Bible teaches that God is sovereign over all creation, exercising authority and control over everything that happens. The concept of God's sovereignty is foundational in Scripture, illustrating that He holds ultimate authority and power over the universe. In Isaiah 45:7, God declares, 'I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.' This underlines that nothing occurs outside of His divine will and purpose. Similarly, Romans 9:18 shows that God has mercy on whom He wills and hardens whom He wills, reflecting His absolute sovereignty in choosing His people and carrying out His plans. This divine sovereignty assures believers that they are secure in God's purpose, which is unchangeable and faithful, as demonstrated in Psalm 33:11.

Q: Why is God's immutability important for Christians?

God's immutability assures Christians that His promises and character remain unchanged throughout time. God's immutability, or unchanging nature, is a critical attribute that offers immense comfort to Christians. Malachi 3:6 states, 'For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.' This means that God's promises of salvation and His character are reliable and eternal. Hebrews 6:17-18 further emphasizes that God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, ensuring that His purposes and promises will never fail. Believers can trust that God's attributes—His love, mercy, and righteousness—will always remain constant, regardless of their circumstances or feelings.

Q: How do we know that God is faithful?

God's faithfulness is evident through His unwavering promises and His consistent character as revealed in Scripture. The faithfulness of God is a theme woven throughout Scripture, highlighting His reliability and the certainty of His promises. In Deuteronomy 7:9, it states, 'Know therefore that the LORD thy God, He is God, the faithful God,' providing assurance that God will always keep His word. Similarly, 2 Timothy 2:13 reassures us, 'If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful; he cannot deny himself,' emphasizing that God's nature prevents Him from being unfaithful. Scriptural accounts demonstrate His faithfulness over centuries, such as the delivering of Israel from Egypt (Exodus 12:41) and the prophetic fulfillment of Christ's coming (Galatians 4:4). These instances serve as reminders that believers can safely rely on God's promises in their own lives today.

Q: Why is the holiness of God significant?

God's holiness signifies His absolute purity and sets the standard for moral perfection. The holiness of God is central to understanding His nature and character. In Revelation 15:4, it states, 'For thou only art holy,' indicating that God is uniquely set apart from all sin and moral imperfection. His holiness is not just an attribute but the essence of His character, influencing all other attributes such as justice and love. This means that God's actions are always righteous and perfect. Habakkuk 1:13 affirms that He cannot even look upon iniquity, underscoring that His nature demands a just response to sin. For believers, understanding God's holiness calls for reverence in worship and motivates them to pursue holiness themselves, as instructed in 1 Peter 1:16, 'Be ye holy; for I am holy.'

Q: What does it mean that God is good?

God's goodness signifies His intrinsic perfection and the source of all moral excellence. God's goodness is a profound attribute that denotes His nature as the ultimate source of all that is good. Psalm 119:68 states, 'Thou art good, and doest good,' affirming that all actions stemming from God are inherently good. His goodness is not derived from any external source, but is intrinsic to His being. This perfection of goodness ensures that God's plans and providences are always for the ultimate benefit of His creation. Furthermore, 1 John 1:5 reinforces that 'God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all,' signifying that His moral excellence is flawless. Recognizing God's goodness encourages believers to trust in His guidance and provision, even amidst life's challenges.

What right had Adam to eat of the trees of the garden?
The permission of his maker, Genesis 2.16, without which he would have been a thief.

What right had Israel to borrow of the Egyptians' jewels and raiment?
Exodus 12, 35. None, unless Jehovah had authorized it. Exodus 3, 22.

What right had Israel to slay so many lambs for sacrifice?
None, except that God commanded it.

What right had Israel to kill off all the Canaanites?
None, save as Jehovah had bid in them.

What right has the husband bid to require submission from his wife?
None, unless God had appointed it.

And so we might go on. Human responsibility is based upon divine sovereignty.

One more example of the exercise of God's absolute sovereignty.

God placed his elect upon a different footing from Adam or Israel. He placed his elect upon an unconditional footing.

In the everlasting covenant, Jesus Christ was appointed their head, took their responsibilities upon himself, and wrought out a righteousness for them, which is perfect, indefeasible, and eternal.

Christ was placed upon a conditional footing, for he was made under the law to redeem them that were under the law.

Only with this infinite difference the others failed. He did not and could not.

And who placed Christ upon that conditional footing? The triune God.

It was sovereign will that appointed him, sovereign love that sent him, sovereign authority that assigned him his work.

Certain conditions were set before the Mediator.

He was to be made in the likeness of sins of flesh.

He was to magnify the law and make it honorable.

He was to bear all the sins of all God's people in his own body on the tree.

He was to make full atonement for them.

He was to endure the awkward wrath of God.

He was to die and be buried.

On the fulfillment of those conditions, He was promised a reward.

Isaiah 53 10-12 He was to be the firstborn among many brethren.

He was to have a people who should share His glory.

Blessed be His name forever.

He fulfilled those conditions, and because He did so, the Father stands pledged on Solomos to preserve through time and bless throughout eternity every one of those for whom His incarnate Son mediated.

Because He took their place, they now share His.

His righteousness is theirs.

His standing before God is theirs.

His life is theirs.

There is not a single condition for them to meet, not a single responsibility for them to discharge in order to attain their eternal bliss.

By one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified or set apart.

Hebrews 10 14

Here then is the sovereignty of God openly displayed before all, displayed in the different ways in which he has dealt with his creatures. part of the angels, Adam and Israel, were placed upon a conditional footing, continuance in blessing, being made dependent upon their obedience and fidelity to God. But in sharp contrast from them, the little flock, Luke 12, 32, have been given an unconditional and immutable standing in God's covenant, God's counsel, God's Son, their blessing being made dependent upon what Christ did for them. The foundation of God standeth assure having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are His. 2 Timothy 2.19 The foundation on which God's elect stand is a perfect one. Nothing can be added to it nor anything taken from it. Ecclesiastes 3.14 Here then is the highest and grandest display of the absolute sovereignty of God. Verily, He has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will, He hardeneth. Romans 9. Chapter 7 The Immutability of God Immutability is one of the divine perfections which is not sufficiently pondered. It is one of the excellencies of the Creator which distinguishes Him from all His creatures. God is perpetually the same, subject to no change in His being, attributes, or determinations. Therefore God is compared to a rock, Deuteronomy 32, 4, etc. which remains immovable when the entire ocean surrounding it is continually in a fluctuating state. Even so, though all creatures are subjected to change, God is immutable. Because God has no beginning and no ending, He can know no change. He is everlastingly the Father of life, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

James 1.17 First, God is immutable in His essence. His nature and being are infinite and so subject to no mutations. There never was a time when He was not. There will never come a time when He shall cease to be. God has neither evolved, grown, nor improved. All that He is today, He has ever been and ever will be. I am the Lord. I change not. Malachi 3.6 is His own unqualified affirmation. He cannot change for the better, for He is already perfect and mean perfect. He cannot change for the worse. altogether unaffected by anything outside himself. Improvement or deterioration is impossible. He is perpetually the same. He only can say, I am, that I am. Exodus 3.14. He is altogether uninfluenced by the flight of time. There is no wrinkle upon the brow of eternity, therefore his power can never diminish. nor his glory ever fade. Secondly, God is immutable in his attributes. Whatever the attributes of God were before the universe was called into existence, they are precisely the same now and will remain so forever. Necessarily so, for they are the very perfections, the essential qualities of His being. Semper Idem, always the same, is written across every one of them. His power is unabated, His wisdom undiminished, His holiness unsullied. The attributes of God can no more change than Deity can cease to be. His veracity is immutable, for His Word is forever settled in heaven. Psalm 119.89 His love is eternal. I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31 at 3. And having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. John 13 1. His mercy ceases not, for it is everlasting. Psalm 105. Thirdly, God is immutable in his counsel. His will never varies. Perhaps some are ready to object that we ought to read the following. And it repented the Lord that he had made man. Genesis 6, 6. Our first reply is, then do the scriptures contradict themselves? No, that cannot be. Numbers 23, 19 is plain enough. God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. So also in 1 Samuel 15 29, the strength of Israel will not lie nor repent, for he is not a man that he should repent. The explanation is very simple. When speaking of himself, God frequently accommodates his language to our limited capacities. He describes himself as clothed with bodily members, as eyes, ears, hands, etc. He speaks of himself as waking, Psalm 78, 65, as rising up early, Jeremiah 7, 13. Yet he neither slumbers nor sleeps. When he institutes a change in his dealings with man, he describes his course of conduct as repenting. Yes, God is immutable in His counsel. The gifts and callings of God are without repentance. Romans 11, 29. It must be so, for He is in one mind, and who can turn from Him? And what His soul desireth, even that He doeth. Job 23, 13. Change and decay in all around we see. May he who changeth not abide with thee. God's purpose never alters. One of two things causes a man to change his mind and reverse his plans. Want of foresight to anticipate everything. or lack of power to execute them. But as God is both omniscient and omnipotent, there is never any need for him to revise his decrees. No, the counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Psalm 33 11 Therefore do we read of the immutability of his counsel, Hebrews 6, 17. Herein we may perceive the infinite distance which separates the highest creature from the creator. Creature, hood, and mutability are correlative terms. If the creature was not mutable by nature, It would not be a creature, it would be God. By nature we tend toward nothingness, since we came from nothing. Nothing stays our annihilation, but the will and sustaining power of God. None can sustain himself a single moment. We are entirely dependent on the Creator for every breath we draw. We gladly own with the psalmist, thou holdest our soul in life. Psalm 66, 9. The realization of this ought to make us lie down under a sense of our own nothingness in the presence of Him in whom we live and move and have our being. Acts 17, 28. As fallen creatures, we are not only mutable, but everything in us is opposed to God. As such, we are wandering stars, Jude 13, out of our proper orbit. The wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest. Isaiah 57 20. Fallen man is inconstant. The words of Jacob concerning Reuben apply with full force to all of Adam's descendants. Unstable as water. Genesis 49 4. Thus it is not only a mark of piety, but also the part of wisdom to heed that injunction, seeth ye from man, Isaiah 2.22. No human being is to be depended on. Put not your trust in princes, nor in the Son of Man, in whom there is no help, Psalm 146.3. If I disobey God, then I deserve to be deceived and disappointed by my fellows. People who like you today may hate you tomorrow. The multitude who cried Hosanna to the son of David speedily changed to away with him, crucify him. Herein is solid comfort. Human nature cannot be relied upon, but God can. However unstable I may be, however fickle my friends may prove, God changes not. If he varied as we do, if he willed one thing today and another tomorrow, if he were controlled by caprice, who could confide in him? But all praise to His glorious name. He is ever the same. His purpose is fixed. His will is stable. His word is sure. He then is a rock. on which we may fix our feet, while the mighty torrent is sweeping away everything around us. The permanence of God's character guarantees the fulfillment of His promises. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee. Neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. Isaiah 54 10 Herein is encouragement to prayer. What comfort would it be to pray to a God that, like the chameleon, changed color every moment? Who would put up a petition to an earthly prince that was so mutable as to grant a petition one day and deny it another? Stephen Charnock, 1670. Should someone ask, but what is the use of praying to one whose will is already fixed? We answer, because he so requires it. What blessings has God promised without our seeking them? If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us, 1 John 5, 14. And He has willed everything that is for His child's good. To ask for anything contrary to His will is not prayer, but rank rebellion. Herein is terror for the wicked, those who defy Him, who break His laws, who have no concern for his glory, but who live their lives as though he existed not, must not suppose that, when at the last they shall cry to him for mercy, he will alter his will, revoke his word, and rescind his awful threatenings. No, he has declared, therefore will I also deal in fury. Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity. And though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them. Ezekiel 8.18 God will not deny himself to gratify their lusts. God is holy, unchangingly so. Therefore God hates sin, eternally hates it. Hence the eternality of the punishment of all who die in their sins. The divine immutability, like the cloud which interposed between the Israelites and the Egyptian army, has a dark as well as a light side. It ensures the execution of his threatening as well as the performance of his promises. and it destroys the hope which the guilty fondly cherish, that he will be a lenity to his frail and erring creatures, and that they will be much more lightly dealt with than the declarations of his own word would lead us to expect. We oppose to these deceitful and presumptuous speculations the solemn truth that God is unchanging in veracity and purpose, in faithfulness and justice. John Dick, 1850. Chapter 8. The Holiness of God. Who shall not fear the O Lord and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy, Revelation 15.4. He only is independently, infinitely, immutably holy. In scripture he is frequently styled the Holy One. He is so because the sum of all moral excellency is found in him. He is absolute purity, unsullied even by the shadow of sin. God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. 1 John 1.5. Holiness is the very excellency of the divine nature. The great God is glorious in holiness. Exodus 15.11. Therefore do we read thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. Habakkuk 1.13 As God's power is the opposite of the native weakness of the creature, as his wisdom is in complete contrast from the least defect of understanding or folly, so his holiness is the very antithesis of all moral blemish or defilement. of old, God-appointed singers in Israel that should praise the beauty of holiness. 2 Chronicles 20.21 Power is God's hand or arm, omniscience His eye, mercy His bowels, eternity His duration, but holiness is His beauty. Stephen Charnock It is this supremely which renders him lovely to those who are delivered from sin's dominion. A chief emphasis is placed upon this perfection of God. God is oftener styled holy than almighty and set forth by this part of his dignity more than by any other name. This is more fixed on as an epithet to his name than any other. You never find it expressed, his mighty name, or his wise name, but his great name, and most of all his holy name. This is the greatest title of honor in this latter, doth the majesty and venerableness of his name appear. Stephen Charnock. This perfection as none other is solemnly celebrated before the throne of heaven. The seraphim crying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. Isaiah 6, 3 God Himself singles out this perfection. Once have I sworn by my holiness. Psalm 89, 35. God swears by His holiness because that is a fuller expression of Himself than anything else. Therefore we are exhorted, sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness. Psalm 34. This may be said to be a transcendental attribute that, as it were, runs through the rest and casts luster upon them. It is an attribute of attributes. J. Howe, 1670. Thus we read the beauty of the Lord. Psalm 27, 4, which is none other than the beauty of holiness. Psalm 110, 3. as it seems to challenge an excellency above all his other perfections. So it is the glory of all the rest, as it is the glory of the Godhead. So it is the glory of every perfection in the Godhead. As His power is the strength of them, so His holiness is the beauty of them. As all would be weak without all mightiness to back them, so all would be unkindly without holiness to adorn them. Should this be sullied, all the rest would lose their honor, as at the same instant the sun should lose its light, it would lose its heat, its strength, its generative and quickening virtue. As sincerity is the luster of every grace in a Christian, so is purity the splendor of every attribute in the Godhead. His justice is a holy justice. His wisdom a holy wisdom. His power a holy arm. Psalm 98, 1. His truth or promise a holy promise. Psalm 105, 42. His name which signifies all his attributes in conjunction is holy. Psalm 103, 1. Stephen Charnock. God's holiness is manifested in his works. The Lord is righteous in all His ways and holy in all His works. Psalm 145, 17. Nothing but that which is excellent can proceed from Him. Holiness is the rule of all His actions. At the beginning, He pronounced all that He made very good. Genesis 1, 31, which He could not have done had there been anything imperfect or unholy in them. Man was made upright, Ecclesiastes 7.29, in the image and likeness of his Creator. The angels that fell were created holy, for we are told that they kept not their first estate, habitation, Jude 6. of Satan it is written, thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created till iniquity was found in thee. Ezekiel 28 15 God's holiness is manifested in His law. That law forbids sin in all of its modifications, in its most refined as well as its grossest forms, the intent of the mind as well as the pollution of the body, the secret desire as well as the overt act. Therefore do we read, the law is holy and the commandment holy and just, and good. Romans 7, 12. Yes, the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous all together. Psalm 19, 8 and 9. God's holiness is manifested at the cross wondrously and yet most solemnly does the atonement display God's infinite holiness and abhorrence of sin. How hateful sin must be to God for Him to punish it to its utmost deserts when it was imputed to His Son. Not all the vials of judgment that have or shall be poured out upon the wicked world, nor the flaming furnace of a sinner's conscience, nor the irreversible sentence pronounced against the rebellious demons, nor the groans of the damned creatures, give such a demonstration of God's hatred of sin as the wrath of God let loose upon His Son. Never did divine holiness appear more beautiful and lovely than at the time our Savior's countenance was most marred in the midst of His dying groans. This He Himself acknowledges in Psalm 22. When God had turned His smiling face from him, And thrust His sharp knife into his heart, Which forced that terrible cry from him, My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? He adores this perfection, thou art holy.

Verse 3. Stephen Charnock. Because God is holy, he hates all sin. He loves everything which is in conformity to his laws, and loathes everything which is contrary to it. His word plainly declares, the full word is abomination to the Lord. Proverbs 3.32 And again, the thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord. Proverbs 15.26 It follows, therefore, that he must necessarily punish sin. Sin can no more exist without demanding his punishment than without requiring his hatred of it. God has often forgiven sinners, but he never forgives sin. And the sinner is only forgiven on the ground of another having borne his punishment. For without shedding of blood is no remission. Hebrews 9.22 Therefore we are told, the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. Nahum 1.2 For one sin, God banished our first parents from Eden. For one sin, all the posterity of Canaan, a son of Ham, fell under a curse which remains over them to this day. Genesis 9, 21. For one sin Moses was excluded from Canaan, Elisha's servant smitten with leprosy, and Aniath and Sapphira cut off out of the land of the living.

Herein, we find proof for the divine inspiration of the Scriptures. The unregenerated do not really believe in the holiness of God. Their conception of His character is altogether one-sided. They fondly hope that His mercy will override everything else. Thou foughtest that I was altogether as thyself. Psalm 50, 21 is God's charge against them. They think only of a God patterned after their own evil hearts, hence their continuance in a course of mad folly.

Such is the holiness ascribed to the divine nature and character in scripture that it clearly demonstrates their superhuman origin. The character attributed to the gods of the ancients and of modern heathendom is the very reverse of that immaculate purity which pertains to the true God. An ineffably holy God, who has the utmost abhorrence of all sin, was never invented by any of Adam's fallen descendants. The fact is that nothing makes more manifest the terrible depravity of man's heart and his enmity against the living God than to have sent before him one who is infinitely and immutably holy.

His own idea of sin is practically limited to what the world calls crime. Anything short of that, man palliates as defects, mistakes, infirmities, etc. And even where sin is owned at all, excuses and extenuations are made for it. The God, which the vast majority of professing Christians love to look upon very much like an indulgent old man, who himself has no relish for folly, but leniently winks at the indiscretions of youth. But the Word says, Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Psalm 5, 5. And again, God is angry with the wicked every day. Psalm 7, 11. But men refuse to believe in this God and gnash their teeth when his hatred of sin is faithfully pressed upon their attention.

No, sinful man was no more likely to devise a holy God than to create the lake of fire in which he will be tormented forever and ever. Because God is holy, acceptance with him on the ground of creature doings is utterly impossible. A fallen creature could sooner create a world than produce that which would meet the approval of infinite purity. Can darkness dwell with light? Can the Immaculate One take pleasure in filthy rags? Isaiah 64 6 The best that sinful man brings forth is defiled. A corrupt tree cannot bear good fruit. God would deny himself, vilify his imperfections, were he to account as righteous and holy that which is not so in itself. And nothing is so rich as the least stain upon it, contrary to the nature of God. But blessed be His name, that which His holiness demanded, His grace has provided in Christ Jesus our Lord. Every poor sinner who has fled to Him for refuge stands accepted in the Beloved. Ephesians 1, 6. Hallelujah! Because God is holy, the utmost reverence becomes our approaches unto Him. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about Him. Psalm 89, 7. Then exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool. He is holy. Psalm 99.5. Yes, at his footstool, in the lowest posture of humility, prostrate before him. When Moses would approach unto the burning bush, God said, Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, Exodus 3, 5. He is to be served with fear, Psalm 2, 11. Of Israel his demand was, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified, Leviticus 10, 3. The more our hearts are awed by His ineffable holiness, the more acceptable will be our approaches unto Him. Because God is holy, we should desire to be conformed to Him. His commandment is, Be ye holy, for I am holy, 1 Peter 1.16. We are not bidden to be omnipotent or omniscient as God is, but we are to be holy, and that in all manner of conversation, deportment, 1 Peter 1.15. This is the prime way of honoring God. We do not so glorify God by elevated admirations or eloquent expressions or pompous services for Him as when we aspire to a conversing with Him with unstained spirits and live to Him in living like Him. Stephen Sharnock Then, as God alone is the source and fount of holiness, let us earnestly seek holiness from Him. Let our daily prayer be that He may sanctify us wholly, and our whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5.23. Chapter 9. The Power of God. We cannot have a right conception of God unless we think of him as all-powerful, as well as all-wise. He who cannot do what he will and perform all his pleasure cannot be God. As God hath a will to resolve what he deems good, so has he the power to execute his will. The power of God is that ability and strength whereby He can bring to pass whatsoever He pleases, whatsoever His infinite wisdom may direct, and whatsoever the infinite purity of His will may resolve. As holiness is the beauty of all God's attributes, so power is that which gives life and action to all the perfections of the divine nature. Halvain would be the eternal counsels if power did not step in to execute them. Without power, his mercy would be but feeble pity, his promises an empty sound, his threatenings a mere scarecrow. God's power is like himself, infinite, eternal, incomprehensible. It can neither be checked, restrained, nor frustrated by the creature. Stephen Charnock. God hath spoken once, twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God. Psalm 62, 11. God hath spoken once, nothing more is necessary. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but his word abideth forever. God hath spoken once, how befitting his divine majesty. We poor mortals may speak often, and yet fail to be heard. He speaks but once, and the thunder of His power is heard on a thousand hills. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the highest gave His voice. Hail stones and coals of fire! Yea, He sent out His arrows and scattered them. He shot out lightnings and discomfited them. then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. Psalm 18, 13 through 15. God hath spoken once, behold his unchanging authority. For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? Psalm 89, 6. and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? Daniel 4.35. This was openly displayed when God became incarnate and tabernacled among men. To the leper he said, I will, be thou clean, and immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Matthew 8, 3. To one who had lain in the grave for four days he cried, Lazarus, come forth, and the dead came forth. The stormy wind and the angry waves were hushed at a single word from him. A legion of demons could not resist his authoritative command. Power belongeth unto God and to him alone, not a creature in the entire universe as an atom of power save what God delegates. But God's power is not acquired, nor does it depend upon any recognition by any other authority. It belongs to Him inherently. God's power is like himself, self-existent, self-sustained. The mightiest of men cannot add so much as a shadow of increased power to the omnipotent one. He sits on no buttressed throne and leans on no assisting arm. His court is not maintained by his courtiers. nor does it borrow its slender from his creatures. He is himself the great central source and originator of all power, C.H. Spurgeon. Not only does all creation bear witness to the great power of God, but also to his entire independency of all created things. Listen to his own challenge. Willst thou, when I laid the foundations of the earth, declare if thou hast understanding? Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the cornerstone thereof? Job 38, 4-6 How completely is the pride of man laid in the dust! Power is also used as a name of God, the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, Mark 14, 62, that is, at the right hand of God. God and power are so inseparable that they are reciprocated. as his essence is immense, not to be confined in place, as it is eternal, not to be measured in time, so it is almighty, not to be limited in regard of action. Stephen Charnock. Lo, these are parts of his ways, that how little a portion is heard of him, but the thunder of his power, who can understand? Job 26, 14. Who is able to count all the monuments of His power? Even that which is displayed of its might in the visible creation is utterly beyond our powers of comprehension. Still less are we able to conceive of omnipotence itself. There is infinitely more power lodged in the nature of God than is expressed in all His works. Parts of His ways we behold in creation, providence, redemption, but only a little part of His might is seen in them. Remarkably is this brought out, and there was the hiding of his power, Habakkuk 3.4. It is scarcely possible to imagine anything more grandiloquent than the imagery of this whole chapter, yet nothing in it surpasses the nobility of this statement. The prophet he envisioned beheld the mighty God scattering the hills and overturning the mountains, which one would think afforded an amazing demonstration of his power. Nay, says our verse, that is rather the hiding than the displaying of his power. What is meant this? So inconceivable, so immense, so uncontrollable is the power of deity that the fearful convulsions which he works in nature conceal more than they reveal of his infinite might. It is very beautiful to link together the following passages. He treadeth upon the waves of the sea, Job 9, 8, which expresses God's uncontrollable power. He walketh in the circuit of heaven, Job 22, 14, which tells of the immensity of His presence. He walketh upon the wings of the wind, Psalm 104.3, which signifies the amazing swiftness of his operations. This last expression is very remarkable.
It is not that he flyeth or runneth, but that he walketh, and that on the very wings of the wind, on the most impetuous of the elements, tossed into utmost rage and sweeping along with almost inconceivable rapidity, yet they are under his feet, beneath his perfect control. Let us now consider God's power in creation. The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine. As for the world and the fullness thereof, thou hast founded them. The north and the south, thou hast created them. Psalm 89, 11, and 12. Before man can work he must have both tools and materials. But God began with nothing and by his word alone out of nothing made all things. The intellect cannot grasp it. God spake and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. Psalm 33 9. Primeval matter heard His voice. God said, Let there be, and it was so. Genesis 1. Well may we exclaim, Thou hast a mighty arm, strong is Thy hand, and high is Thy right hand. Psalm 89 13. Who that looks upward to the midnight sky, and with an eye of reason beholds its rolling wonders? Who can forbear inquiring of what were their mighty orbs formed? Amazing to relate, they were produced without materials. They sprung from emptiness itself. The stately fabric of universal nature emerged out of nothing. What instruments were used by the supreme architect to fashion the parts with such exquisite niceness and give so beautiful a polish to the whole? How was it all connected into one finely proportioned and nobly finished structure? A bare fiat accomplished all. Let them be, said God. He added, No more. And at once the marvelous edifice arose, adorned with every beauty, displaying innumerable perfections, and declaring the midst enraptured seraphs. its great Creator's praise. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. Psalm 33 6 James Harvey, 1789 Consider God's power in preservation. No creature has power to preserve itself. Can the rush grow up without mire? Can the flag grow without water? Job 8, 11. Both man and beast would perish if there were not herbs for food. Herbs would wither and die if the earth were not refreshed. with fruitful showers. Therefore is God called the preserver of man and beast. Psalm 33 6 Upholding all things by the word of his power. Hebrews 1 3 What a marvel of divine power is the prenatal life of every human being. that an infant can live at all and for so many months in such cramped and filthy quarters, and that without breathing is unaccountable without the power of God. Truly He holdeth our soul in life. Psalm 66, 9. The preservation of the earth from the violence of the sea is another plain instance of God's might. How is that raging element kept pent within those limits wherein He first lodged it, continuing its channel without overflowing the earth and dashing in pieces the lower part of the creation? The natural situation of the water is to be above the earth because it is lighter, and immediately under the air because it is heavier, who restrains the natural quality of it? Certainly man does not and cannot. It is the fiat of its Creator which alone bridles it. Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed. Job 38.11 What a standing monument to the power of God is the preservation of the world. Consider God's power in government. Take his restraining of the malice of Satan. The devil is a roaring lion, walketh enough, seeking whom he may devour. 1 Peter 5.8. He is filled with hatred against God and with fiendish enmity against men, particularly the saints. He that envied Adam in paradise envies us the pleasure of enjoying any of God's blessings. Could he have his will, he would treat all the same way he treated Job. He would send fire from heaven on the fruits of the earth, destroy the cattle, cause a wind to overthrow our houses, and cover our bodies with boils. But little as men may realize it, God bridles him to a large extent, prevents him from carrying out his evil designs, and confines him within his ordinations. So, too, God restrains the natural corruption of men. He suffers sufficient outbreakings of sin to show what fearful havoc has been wrought by man's apostasy from his Maker. But who can conceive the frightful lengths to which men would go were God to remove his curbing hand, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood? Romans 3 14 and 15. This is the nature of every descendant of Adam. Then what unbridled licentiousness and headstrong folly would triumph in the world if the power of God did not interpose to lock down the floodgates of it? See Psalm 93, 3 and 4. Consider God's power in judgment. When he smites, none can resist him. See Ezekiel 22, 14. How terribly this was exemplified at the flood. God opened the windows of heaven and broke up the great fountains of the deep, and, accepting those in the ark, the entire human race, helpless before the storm, off his wrath, was swept away. A shower of fire and brimstone from heaven, and the cities of the plain were exterminated. Pharaoh and all his hosts were impotent when God blew upon them at the Red Sea. What a terrific word is that in Romans 9.22! What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? God is going to display his mighty power upon the reprobate, not merely by incarcerating them in Gehenna, but by supernaturally preserving their bodies as well as souls amid the eternal burnings of the lake of fire. Well, may all tremble before such a god! To treat with impudence one who can crush us more easily than we can a moth is a suicidal policy. To openly defy him, who is cloaked with omnipotence, who can rend us in pieces or cast us into hell any moment he pleases, is the very hype of insanity. To put it on its lowest ground, it is but the part of wisdom. To heed his command, kiss the sun, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled, but a little. Psalm 2, 12. Well may the enlightened soul adore such a God. The wondrous and infinite perfections of such a being call for fervent worship. If man of might and renown claim the admiration of the world, how much more should the power of the Almighty Fill us with wonderment and homage. Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Exodus 15, 11. Well, may the saint trust such a God. He is worthy of implicit confidence. Nothing is too hard for him. If God were stinted in might, and had a limit to his strength, we might well despair. But seeing that he is clothed with omnipotence, no prayer is too hard for him to answer, no need too great for him to supply, no passion too strong for him to subdue. No temptation too powerful for him to deliver from. No misery too deep for him to relieve. The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27, 1. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Ephesians 3, 20 and 21. Chapter 10, The Faithfulness of God. Unfaithfulness is one of the most outstanding sins of these evil days. In the business world, a man's word is, with exceedingly rare exceptions, no longer his bond. In the social world, marital infidelity abounds on every hand, the sacred bonds of wedlock being broken with as little regard as the discarding of an old garment. In the ecclesiastical realm, thousands who have solemnly covenanted to preach the truth make no scruple to attack and deny it, nor can reader or writer claim complete immunity from this fearful sin. In how many ways have we been unfaithful to Christ and to the light and privileges which God has entrusted to us? How refreshing then, how unspeakably blessed to lift our eyes above this scene of ruin and behold one who is faithful, faithful in all things, faithful at all times. Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God. Deuteronomy 7, 9. This quality is essential to His being. Without it, He would not be God, for God to be unfaithful would be to act contrary to His nature, which were impossible. If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself. 2 Timothy 2.13 Faithfulness is one of the glorious perfections of his being. He is as it were clothed with it. O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto Thee? Or to Thy faithfulness round about Thee? Psalm 89.8 So, too, when God became incarnate, it was said, Righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and Faithfulness the girdle of His reins. Isaiah 11.5 What a word is that in Psalm 36.5! Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens, and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Far above all finite comprehension is the unchanging faithfulness of God. Everything about God is great, vast, incomparable. He never forgets, never fails, never falters, never forfeits His word. To every declaration of promise or prophecy, the Lord has exactly adhered. Every engagement of covenant or threatening, He will make good. For God is not a man that He should lie, neither the Son of Man that He should repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Numbers 23.19. Therefore does the believer exclaim, His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. Lamentations 3.22 and 23. Scripture abounds in illustrations of God's faithfulness. More than 4,000 years ago, he said, while the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, the day and night, shall not cease. Genesis 8, 22. Every year that comes furnishes a fresh witness to God's fulfillment of this promise. In Genesis 15 we find that Jehovah declared unto Abraham, Thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again. Verses 13 through 16. Centuries ran their weary course Abraham's descendants groaned amid the brick kilns of Egypt. Had God forgotten His promise? No, indeed. Read Exodus 12, 41. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. Through Isaiah the Lord declared, Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Chapter 7, verse 14. Again centuries passed, but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman. Galatians 4.4. God is true. His word of promise is sure. In all his relations with his people, God is faithful. He may be safely relied upon. No one ever yet really trusted him in vain. We find this precious truth expressed almost everywhere in the scriptures, for his people need to know that faithfulness is an essential part of the divine character. This is the basis of our confidence in Him. But it is one thing to accept the faithfulness of God as a divine truth, and it is quite another to act upon it. God has given us many exceeding great and precious promises, but are we really counting on His fulfillment of them? Are we actually expecting Him to do for us all that He has said? Are we resting with implicit assurance on these words, He is faithful, that promised Hebrews 10, 23? There are seasons in the lives of all when it is not easy, no, not even for Christians to believe that God is faithful. Our faith is sorely tried, our eyes be dimmed with tears, and we can no longer trace the outworkings of His love. Our ears are distracted with the noises of the world, harassed by the atheistic whisperings of Satan, and we can no longer hear the sweet accents of his still, small voice. Cherished plans have been thwarted, friends on whom we relied have failed us, a professed brother or sister in Christ, has betrayed us. We are staggered. We sought to be faithful to God, and now a dark cloud hides him from us. We find it difficult, yea, impossible, for carnal reasons, to harmonize his frowning providence with his gracious promises. O faltering soul, severely tried fellow-pilgrim, seek grace to heed Isaiah 50.10. Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his guard. When you are tempted to doubt the faithfulness of God, cry out, get thee hence, Satan. Though you cannot now harmonize God's mysterious dealings with the avowals of His love, wait on Him for more light. In His own good time, He will make it plain to you What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." John 13, 7. The sequel will yet demonstrate that God has neither forsaken nor deceived His child, and therefore will the Lord wait. that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you, for the Lord is a God of judgment. Blessed are all they that wait for him. Isaiah 30, 18. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His grace. Behind the frowning providence He hides a smiling face. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take! The clouds, ye so much dread, are rich with mercy and shall break in blessing o'er your head. Thy testimonies which thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful. Psalm 119, 1, 38. God has not only told us the best, but He has not withheld the worst. He has faithfully described the ruin which the fall has effected. He has faithfully diagnosed the terrible state which sin has produced. He has faithfully made known His inveterate hatred of evil, and that He must punish the same. He has faithfully warned us that He is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12, 29. Not only does His word abound in illustrations of His fidelity in fulfilling His promises, but it also records numerous examples of His faithfulness in making good His threatenings. Every stage of Israel's history exemplifies that solemn fact. So it was with individuals. Pharaoh, Korah, Achan, and a host of others are so many proofs. And thus it will be with you, my reader, unless you have fled or do flee to Christ for refuge, the everlasting burning of the lake of fire will be your sure and certain portion. God is faithful. God is faithful in preserving His people. God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son, 1 Corinthians 1 9. In the previous verse, promise was made that God would conform unto the end His own people. The apostles' confidence in the absolute security of believers was founded not on the strength of their resolutions or ability to persevere, but on the veracity of Him that cannot lie. since God has promised to his son a certain people for his inheritance to deliver them from sin and condemnation and to make them participants of eternal life and glory. It is certain that he will not allow any of them to perish. God is faithful in disciplining his people. He is faithful in what he withholds, no less than in what he gives. He is faithful in sending sorrow as well as in giving joy. The faithfulness of God is a truth to be confessed by us, not only when we are at ease, but also when we are smarting under the sharpest rebuke. Nor must this confession be merely out of our mouths, but of our hearts, too. When God smites us with the rod of chastisement, it is faithfulness which wields it. To acknowledge this means that we humble ourselves before Him, own that we fully deserve His correction, and instead of murmuring, thank Him for it. God never afflicts without a reason. For this cause, many are weak and sickly among you. 1 Corinthians 11.30 says Paul, illustrating this principle. When his rod falls upon us, let us say with Daniel, O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces. Chapter 9, verse 7. I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. Psalm 119, 75. Trouble and affliction are not only consistent with God's love pledged in the everlasting covenant, but they are parts of the administration of the same. God is not only faithful, notwithstanding afflictions, but faithful in sending them. Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with strifes. Nevertheless, my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. Psalm 89, 32 and 33. Chastening is not only reconcilable with God's loving-kindness, but it is the effect and expression of it. It would much quiet the minds of God's people if they would remember that His covenant love binds Him to lay on them seasonable correction. Afflictions are necessary for us. In their affliction they will seek me early. Hosea 5.15 God is faithful in glorifying his people. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. 1 Thessalonians 5.24 The immediate reference here is to the saints being preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. God deals with us not on the ground of our merits, for we have none, but for his own great name's sake. God is constant to himself and to his own purpose of grace. Whom he called, them he also glorified. Romans 8, 30. God gives a full demonstration of the constancy of His everlasting goodness toward His elect by effectually calling them out of darkness into His marvelous light, and this should fully assure them of the certain continuance of it. The foundation of God standeth sure, 2 Timothy 2.19. Paul was resting on the faithfulness of God when he said, I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. 2 Timothy 1.12 The apprehension of this blessed truth will preserve us from worry. To be full of care, to view our situation with dark forebodings, to anticipate the morrow with sad anxiety, is to reflect poorly upon the faithfulness of God. He who has cared for his child through all the years will not forsake him in old age. He who has heard your prayers in the past will not refuse to supply your need in the present emergency. Rest on Job 519. He shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. the apprehension of this blessed truth will check our murmurings. The Lord knows what is best for each one of us, and one effect of resting on this truth will be the silencing of our petulant complainings. God is greatly honored when, under trial and chastening, we have good thoughts of Him, vindicate His wisdom and justice, and recognize His love in His very rebukes. The apprehension of this blessed truth will beget increasing confidence in God. Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator. 1 Peter 4.19 When we trustfully resign ourselves and all our affairs into God's hands, fully persuaded of His love and faithfulness, the sooner shall we be satisfied with His providences and realize that He doeth all things well. Chapter 11 The Goodness of God The goodness of God endures continually. Psalm 52, 1. The goodness of God refers to the perfection of His nature. God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. 1 John 1, 5. There is such an absolute perfection in God's nature and being that nothing is wanting to it or defective in it, and nothing can be added to it to make it better. He is originally good, good of himself, which nothing else is. For all creatures are good only by participation and communication from God. He is essentially good, not only good, but goodness itself. The creature's good is a super-added quality in God. It is his essence, his infinitely good. The creature's good is but a drop, but in God there is an infinite ocean or gathering together of good. He is eternally and immutably good, for he cannot be less good than he is, as there can be no addition made to him, so no subtraction from him. Thomas Lanthans. God is sumum bonum, the highest good. The original Saxon meaning of our English word God is the good. God is not only the greatest of all beings, but the best. All the goodness there is in any creature has been imparted from the Creator, but
God's goodness is underrived, for it is the essence of his eternal nature. as God is infinite in power from all eternity before there was any display thereof or any act of omnipotency put forth. So he was eternally good before there was any communication of his bounty or any creature to whom it might be imparted. Thus the first manifestation of this divine perfection was in giving, being to all things. Thou art good and doest good. Psalm 119, 68. God has in himself an infinite and inexhaustible treasure of all blessedness, enough to fill all things. All that emanates from God, His decrees, His creation, His laws, His providences, cannot be otherwise than good. As it is written, And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. Genesis 1, 31. Thus the goodness of God is seen first in creation. The more closely the creature is studied, the more the beneficence of its creator becomes apparent. Take the highest of God's earthly creatures, man. Abundant reason has he to say with the solest. I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. Psalm 139.14 Everything about the structure of our bodies attested to the goodness of their maker, how suited the hands to perform their allotted work. How good of the Lord to appoint sleep to refresh the wearied body. How benevolent His provision to give to the eyes, lids, and brows for their protection. And so we might continue indefinitely. nor is the goodness of the Creator confined to man. It is exercised toward all His creatures. The eyes of all wait upon Thee, and Thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. Psalm 145, 15, and 16. Whole volumes might be written, yea, have been, to amplify this fact. Whether it be the birds of the air, the beasts of the forest, or the fish in the sea, abundant provision has been made to supply their every need. God giveth food to all flesh, for his mercy endureth forever. Psalm 136.25 Truly, the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. Psalm 33, 5. The goodness of God is seen in the variety of natural pleasures which he has provided for his creatures. God might have been pleased to satisfy our hunger without the food being pleasing to our palates. How his benevolence appears in the varied flavors which he has given to meats, vegetables, and fruits. God has not only given us senses, but also that which gratifies them, and this too reveals His goodness. The earth might have been as fertile as it is without its surface being so delightfully variegated. Our physical lives could have been sustained without beautiful flowers to regale our eyes with their colors and our nostrils with their sweet perfumes. We might have walked the fields without our ears being saluted by the music of the birds. Whence, then, this loveliness, this charm, so freely diffused over the face of nature? Verily, the tender mercies of the Lord are over all His works. Psalm 145, 9. The goodness of God is seen in that when man transgressed the law of his Creator, a dispensation of unmixed wrath did not at once commence. Well might God have deprived his fallen creatures of every blessing, every comfort, every pleasure. Instead, he ushered in a regime of a mixed nature of mercy and judgment. This is very wonderful if it be duly considered. And the more thoroughly that regime be examined, the more will it appear that mercy rejoiceth against judgment. James 2.13. Notwithstanding all the evils which attend our fallen state, the valance of good greatly preponderates. With comparatively rare exceptions, men and women experience a far greater number of days of health than they do of sickness and pain. There is much more creature happiness than creature misery in the world. Even our sorrows admit of considerable alleviation, and God has given to the human mind a pliability which adapts itself to circumstances and makes the most of them. Nor can the benevolence of God be justly called into question, because there is suffering and sorrow in the world. If man sins against the goodness of God, if he despises the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, and after the hardness and impenitency of his heart treasures unto himself wrath against the day of wrath, Romans 2, 4 and 5, who is to blame but himself? Would God be good if He punished not those who ill-use His blessings, abuse His benevolence, and trample His mercies beneath their feet? It will be no reflection upon God's goodness, but rather the brightest exemplification of it, when he shall rid the earth of those who have broken his laws, defied his authority, mocked his messengers, scorned his son, and persecuted those for whom he died. The goodness of God appeared most illustriously when He sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of Psalms Galatians 4, 4 and 5. Then it was that the multitude of the heavenly host praised their Maker and said, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Luke 2.14 Yes, in the gospel, the grace which word in Greek can say is the idea of benevolence or goodness of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. Titus 2, 11. Nor can God's benignity be called into question because he has not made every sinful creature to be a subject of his redemptive grace. He did not bestow it upon the fallen angels. Had God blessed all to perish, it would have been no reflection on His goodness. To any who would challenge this statement, we will remind him of our Lord's sovereign prerogative. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil because I am good? Matthew 20, 15. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. Psalm 107, 8.
Gratitude is the return justly required from the objects of His beneficence. Yet it is often withheld from our great benefactor simply because his goodness is so constant and so abundant. It is lightly esteemed because it is exercised toward us in the common course of events. It is not felt because we daily experience it. Despisest thou the riches of his goodness? Romans 2, 4. His goodness is despised when it is not improved as a means to lead men to repentance, but, on the contrary, serves to harden them from the supposition that God entirely overlooks their sins. The goodness of God is the life of the believer's trust. It is this excellency in God which most appeals to our hearts. Because His goodness endureth forever, we ought never to be discouraged. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knoweth them that trust in Him. Nahum 1.7. When others behave badly to us, it should only stir us up the more heartily to give thanks unto the Lord, because He is good. And when we ourselves are conscious that we are far from being good, we should only the more reverently bless Him that He is good. We must never tolerate an instant's unbelief as to the goodness of the Lord. Whatever else may be questioned, this is absolutely certain that Jehovah is good. His distinctions may vary, but his nature is always the same. C. H. Spurgeon. Chapter 12. The Patience of God. Far less has been written upon this than the other excellencies of the divine character. Not a few of those who have expatiated at length upon the divine attributes have passed over the patience of God without any comment. It is not easy to suggest a reason for this, for surely the long-suffering of God is as much one of the divine perfections as is His wisdom, power, or holiness, and is much to be admired and revered by us. True, the actual time will not be found in a concordance as frequently as the others, but the glory of this grace itself shines forth on almost every page of Scripture. Certain it is that we lose much if we do not frequently meditate upon the patience of God and earnestly pray that our hearts and ways may be more completely conformed thereto. Most probably the principal reason why so many writers have failed to give us anything separately upon the patience of God was because of the difficulty of distinguishing this attribute from the divine goodness and mercy, particularly the latter. God's long-suffering is mentioned in conjunction with His grace and mercy again and again, as may be seen by consulting Exodus 34, 6, Numbers 14, 18, Psalm 86, 15, etc. That the patience of God is really a display of His mercy, that it is indeed one way in which it is frequently manifested, cannot be denied. But that patience and mercy are one and the same, Excellency, and are not to be separated, we cannot concede. It may not be easy to discriminate between them. Nevertheless, Scripture fully warrants us in affirming some things about the one which we cannot about the other. Stephen Charnock, the Puritan, defines
God's patience in part thus, It is part of the divine goodness and mercy, yet differs from both. God being the greatest goodness hath the greatest mildness. Mildness is always the companion of true goodness, and the greater the goodness, the greater the mildness. Who so holy as Christ, and who so meek, God's slowness to anger is a branch from his mercy. The Lord is full of compassion, slow to anger. Psalm 145.8. It differs from mercy in the formal consideration of the object. Mercy respects the creature as miserable. Patience respects the creature as criminal. Mercy pities him in his misery, and patience bears with the sin which engendered the misery, and is giving birth to more. Personally, we would define the divine patience as that power of control which God exercised over Himself, causing Him to bear with the wicked and forbear so long in punishing them. In Nahum 1.3 we read, The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, upon which Mr. Charnock said, Men that are great in the world are quick in passion and are not so ready to forgive an injury or bear with an offender as one of a meaner rank. It is a want of power over that man's self that makes him do unbecoming things upon a provocation. A prince that can bridle his passions is a king over himself as well as over his subjects.
God is slow to anger because great in power. He has no less power over himself than over his creatures. It is at the above point we think that God's patience is most clearly distinguished from his mercy. Though the creature is benefited thereby, the patience of God chiefly respects himself. A restraint placed upon his acts by his will, whereas his mercy terminates wholly upon the creature. The patience of God is that excellency which causes him to sustain great injuries without immediately avenging himself. He has a power of patience as well as a power of justice. Thus the Hebrew word for the divine longsuffering is rendered slow to anger in Nehemiah 9, 17, Psalm 103, 8, etc.

The Attributes of God, part 2

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about God's sovereignty?

Why is God's immutability important for Christians?

How do we know that God is faithful?

Why is the holiness of God significant?

What does it mean that God is good?

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The Attributes of God, part 2

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about God's sovereignty?

Why is God's immutability important for Christians?

How do we know that God is faithful?

Why is the holiness of God significant?

What does it mean that God is good?

Sermon Transcript

About Arthur W. Pink

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