Knowing an Unknowable God - Part 1 - Self Existence
1) 4-6-08…AM…SBC
“Knowing An Unknowable God”
Psalm 90:1-2 / Exodus 3:14
Introdction: (Source: Tozer, “Knowledge of the Holy” – Chapter 2: God Imcomprehensible)
1- The child, the philosopher and the religionist have all the same question in common: What is God is like?
2- The effort of the inspired authors of Scripture to express God put a great strain upon their thought and language
a- the thoughts of God being from a world that is above nature
b- the minds of the writers being a part of nature
c- the writers of Scriptures were compelled to use a lot of “like” words to make themselves understood
d- Illustration in Ezekiel 1:1-14
1. What Ezekiel found himself looking at was different than anything he had ever seen so he resorted upon the language of resemblance
3- In Scripture we encounter a God that is incomprehensible
a- Scripture attests to two facts: the incomprehensibility of God and the knowability of God
(Job 11:7, Isaiah 40:18) (John 14:7, 17:3, 1 Jn 5:20)
1. we can not absolutely incomprehend God and we cannot absolutely know God
2. Scripture reveals to us that we may know something about God, but that we will never know Him completely Isaiah 55:9 – “my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts…”
3. we can know something about God’s love as Scripture reveals it to us, but our finite minds can never fully comprehend infinite love
Ø this may seem very discouraging but let me assure it is not
4- the Doctrine of God’s Incomprehensibility has a lot of positive application for our own lives (Grudem, 150ff)
a- 1st of all it means that we will never be able to know “too much” about God
b- We will never run out of things to learn about Him
c- We should never get tired in delighting in the discovery of more and more of His excellence and greatness
d- If we delight in the fact that God alone is God, that He will always be infinitely greater than us and that we owe Him worship then the Incomprehensibility of God will be a very encouraging idea to us
Ø When we realize the Incomprehensibility and Knowability of God then the prospect of a lifelong habit of regular Bible study should be very exciting to us
5- What is God like?
a- if by that question we mean “What is God like in Himself?” then there is no answer
b- if we mean “What has God disclosed about Himself that we can comprehend?” then there is an answer and it is found only in the pages of the revealed written Word of God.
Prayer
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Proposition: Mankind can never know who or what we are till we know at least something about God.
Transition: We know from the Bible that God is…
1) Self Existent or Eternal or Independent
Incommunicable Attributes
Ø In the study of God’s attributes it is import ant not to exalt one attribute over another; when that is done it presents a caricature of God. It is all the attributes of God taken together that provide an understanding of the nature and Person of God.[1]
Ø Defined: those unique qualities for which no counterpart can be found in humans
Ø Two classifications for God’s attributes
1. Communicable and Incommunicable (think of the common cold)
Transition: First of all (A), the Psalmist classifies God as being…
A- From Everlasting to Everlasting Psalm 90:1-2
Context of Psalm 90:1-2
· The psalm contrasts the everlasting quality of God (90:1–2) with man’s frailty (vv. 3–6),[2]
· The psalmist prayed that the compassionate God would look favorably upon them.[3]
1- Theological Support: We are presented with God’s eternal or self-existent nature here in this psalm
a- but who art the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, without beginning of days, or end of life, or change of time.[4]
b- A student desiring to express his idea of the eternity of God, said: ‘It is duration, without beginning or end; existence, without bounds or dimension; present, without past or future. His eternity is youth, without infancy or old age; life, without birth or death; today, without yesterday or tomorrow.’ ”[5]
Psalm 102:27 But You are the same, and Your years will have no end.[6]
1 Timothy 1:16 [Christ] alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power.[7]
Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”[8]
2- Textual support
a- The Psalmist is not merely saying “forever,” but “forever and ever and from age to age”[9]
b- As He is free from all the limitations of space, so He is exalted above all the limitations of time.[10]
c- With Him duration is an eternal now. [11] (Read Text)
d- Moses states that God existed before the mountains - the most durable fixture in that day
Genesis 21:33 Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and hthere called on the name of the Lord, ithe Everlasting God[12]
Application:
- This text explains why human beings need an eternal refuge.
- We are frail, we are dust, we are creatures of time;
- unless we are rightly related to the eternal God, we are nothing.
- Only through faith in Christ can we know God and share His eternal life.[13]
Salvation Application – Bridge Tract Presentation
- A comforting ramification
- we can have confidence in a God that has never nor will He ever cease to exist
- this means that His sustaining, providential control of all things and events is assured
- you can be confident that an eternal God is in control of the worst life has to offer
- you can be confident that an eternal God can save your soul from eternal damnation
Transition: God is not only called “from everlasting to everlasting” but next He classifies Himself as…
B- I Am Who I am Exodus 3:14
Context of Exodus 3:14
· Here, God reveals what action he intends to take on behalf of the oppressed Israelites:[14]
· Moses is commissioned as the one who will lead the people out of Egypt. [15]
· First, Moses encounters God in a burning bush.
· Throughout the exodus story the divine presence is frequently symbolized by fire and smoke (Ex. 13:21–22; 19:18; 24:17; 40:38; cf. Lv. 9:24; 10:2; Nu. 11:1–3; Dt. 9:3; 18:16).[16]
· From the outset it was essential that Moses should know the identity of the one who spoke to him: ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob’ (6).[17]
· Moses raised a further difficulty. How would he convince the Israelites that God had sent him to them?[18]
1- Moses’ request for God’s name is important because the Israelites believed that the name reflected an individual’s essence.[19]
2- Textual & Grammatical Support
a- הָיָה to be, become, exist, happen. (TWOT)
b- While it may sound that God was trying to avoid disclosing His name to Moses the context (v12) shows that He was actually doing the opposite – this is a positive formula
c- The phrase “I am that I am” is also translated by many scholars as “I will be who I will be” or some similar combination
d- The introduction God gives to Moses, in connection with the Promise of v12 means, “I am truly He who exists and who will be dynamically present then and there in the situation to which I am sending you.”
Ø Almost identical to the statement in Exodus 3:14 is the verse we read in Revelation 1:8
Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”[20]
3- This is not a new God to Israel for we are told many times of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and it was this God that was sending Moses.
4- this name used by God to describe himself has direct application to an eternal God and it represented His person, character and authority.
5- the greatest and best man in the world must say, “By the grace of God I am what I am”; but God says absolutely—I am that I am.[21]
6- Being self-existent, he cannot be anything but self-sufficient, and therefore He is all-sufficient,[22]
Conclusion: What can a powerful doctrine such as the eternal nature of God do for us besides confuse us?
1- We can never know who or what we are till we know at least something about God
- we can’t put the cart before the horse – it always leads to nowhere
2- Because we were made with in the image of God it is to God that we must go to learn what we as image should look and act like
- you can study sinful man’s explanation of sinful man and probably learn some useful information but you will never know what God intended you to know
Colossians 1:15-17 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. [23]
This verse teaches:
· “From Him” - All things created have their origin or cause in God
· The Uncreated created everything
· “Through Him” - God not only made everything but he sustains everything by His power
· “To Him” – He who created is the end for which all things were made
- A proper understanding of this aspect of God’s nature should free us from the idea that God needs us
- God has chosen to use us to accomplish His purposes and in that sense He now needs us
- God could have bypassed us and used other means to accomplish His purposes
- It is to our gain, not His that He permits us to know and serve Him
- God is not fortunate to have us, it is we that are fortunate to have Him.
Ø What does all this mean…In a nutshell it means this…
- We were made to worship Him
(not some fuzzy feeling or experience that makes us say “God was here I could feel it!”)
- worship comes from a heart that recognizes God doesn’t need you
- worship comes from a heart that recognizes your own sin before a holy God
- worship comes when we our hearts and minds meditate on Scripture
- worship comes when we resist the devil’s temptations
- worship comes when we process of all life with an “upward perspective”
Closing Song: “Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise” Hymn #34
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[1]Paul P. Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press, 1997, c1989), 188.
[2]Lawrence O. Richards, The Bible Readers Companion, electronic ed. (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1991; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996), 371.
[3]John F. Walvoord, Roy B. Zuck and Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983-c1985), 1:859.
[4]Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible : Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1996, c1991), Ps 90:7.
[5]William Evans and S. Maxwell Coder, The Great Doctrines of the Bible, Includes Index., Enl. ed. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1998, c1974), 35.
[6]The New King James Version. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ps 102:27.
[7]The New King James Version. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), 1 Ti 6:15-16.
[8]The New King James Version. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Re 1:8.
[9]R. Laird Harris, Robert Laird Harris, Gleason Leonard Archer and Bruce K. Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, electronic ed. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999, c1980), 673.
[10]Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Originally Published 1872. (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 1:385.
[11]Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Originally Published 1872. (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 1:385.
h Gen. 4:26; 12:8; 13:4; 26:25
i Gen. 35:11; Ex. 15:18; Deut. 32:40; 33:27; Ps. 90:2; 93:2; Is. 40:28; Jer. 10:10; Hab. 1:12; Heb. 13:8
[12]The New King James Version. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ge 21:33.
[13]Warren W. Wiersbe, Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the Old Testament (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1993), Ps 90:1.
[14]D. A. Carson, New Bible Commentary : 21st Century Edition, Rev. Ed. of: The New Bible Commentary. 3rd Ed. / Edited by D. Guthrie, J.A. Motyer. 1970., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), Ex 3:1.
[15]D. A. Carson, New Bible Commentary : 21st Century Edition, Rev. Ed. of: The New Bible Commentary. 3rd Ed. / Edited by D. Guthrie, J.A. Motyer. 1970., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), Ex 3:1.
cf. compare
[16]D. A. Carson, New Bible Commentary : 21st Century Edition, Rev. Ed. of: The New Bible Commentary. 3rd Ed. / Edited by D. Guthrie, J.A. Motyer. 1970., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), Ex 3:1.
[17]D. A. Carson, New Bible Commentary : 21st Century Edition, Rev. Ed. of: The New Bible Commentary. 3rd Ed. / Edited by D. Guthrie, J.A. Motyer. 1970., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), Ex 3:1.
[18]D. A. Carson, New Bible Commentary : 21st Century Edition, Rev. Ed. of: The New Bible Commentary. 3rd Ed. / Edited by D. Guthrie, J.A. Motyer. 1970., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), Ex 3:1.
[19]D. A. Carson, New Bible Commentary : 21st Century Edition, Rev. Ed. of: The New Bible Commentary. 3rd Ed. / Edited by D. Guthrie, J.A. Motyer. 1970., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), Ex 3:1.
[20]The New King James Version. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Re 1:8.
[21]Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible : Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1996, c1991), Ex 3:11.
[22]Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible : Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1996, c1991), Ex 3:11.
[23]The New King James Version. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Col 1:15-18.