Knowing the God Who is Infinite
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There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity—it is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity.—C.H. Spurgeon
The Infinite God
The Infinite God
God’s infinitude means that His perfection is unlimited, immeasurable, and incapable of either increasing or decreasing.
God is Unlimited
God is Unlimited
God is all that He is, essentially and without limitation. God does not do anything to be without limits; He simply is limitless. He may limit the expression of His attributes (He may choose to pour out His love or to restrain His strength), but in their essence all His attributes are unlimited.
God is Immeasurable
God is Immeasurable
If there are no limits to God’s attributes, then there is no way they can be measured.
3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.
The greatness (immensity, largeness) of God is unsearchable (cannot be measured). This ought to provoke every Christian to praise. Every aspect of God is so immense that only He knows the measure of His greatness.
Thou art a sea without a shore, A Sun without a sphere; Thy time is now and evermore, Thy place is everywhere. —John Mason
God Can Neither Increase nor Decrease
God Can Neither Increase nor Decrease
The infinite greatness of God means that he cannot grow bigger or better. Because He is infinite, He cannot shrink. He cannot increase or decrease in any way.
The unity of His character means that every attribute is connected to His infinity. God’s attributes are never at odds with one another, because God is a perfect being.
In fact, His attributes are not really separate. They might be understood individually as we study them, but in truth they are perfectly united to each other. This means that every attribute of God is affected by and in harmony with every other attribute. In other words, all that God reveals about His character is infinite, and everything about His person is without limitation.
What aspect of God is revealed to be unlimited in these verses?
34 At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”
God’s sovereign rights are unlimited!
5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.
His understanding is without limit!
23 “Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? 24 Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.
21 “For his eyes are on the ways of a man,
and he sees all his steps.
22 There is no gloom or deep darkness
where evildoers may hide themselves.
His presence is infinite: filling all creation!
5 You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.
10 who does great things beyond searching out, and marvelous things beyond number.
God works and thoughts are infinite!
So the Scripture confirms what we understand to be true of God: all of His person, all of His attributes, are without measure. Not one can be limited. Not one can be reduced. Not one can be measured. There is none like our God; for us there in none but God!
3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.
The Fullness of the God-Man
The Fullness of the God-Man
In Jesus, the Logos, the Word of God, we find the fullest revelation for what God is really like. And in Jesus we see, although darkly as through a glass, the infinite glory of God.
The incarnation of God is the greatest wonder in the countless wonders that crowd the universe. —Octavius Winslow
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
We saw His glory, John says, and it was not the blinding light glory that we read elsewhere is Scripture. This glory that John saw in Jesus was the display of God’s moral perfections reflected in the life of the God-Man. How did this glory manifest itself? In fullness. The kind of fullness that belongs only God, that overflows the boundaries of description—infinite fullness, without limit or measure. Amazingly, it was a fullness that showed itself in two great ways: grace and truth.
To what degree of the fullness of grace and truth did Jesus possess?
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
Now listen to John again:
16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
What a truth for needy people like us! It pleased God the Father to send His Son to us in human form. But this stooping down of the Son does not mean that He is less God than He was in eternity past. As the Son of God, all the fullness of God truly dwells in Him. As the Son of Man, this fullness is poured out to His followers so that everyone might be made complete. We might ask, “how full?” Infinitely full! Take everything we just learned about God’s infinity and apply it to the person of Jesus Christ!
There is certainly enough in our Savior, if only we open our eyes that we may see it, to solve every doubt and satisfy every longing of the heart; and He is willing to give it in full measure. —Elizabeth Prentiss
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus is infinitely full of truth
Jesus is infinitely full of truth
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
He is the truth!
18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
He brings us truth about the Father!
27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
He opens our eyes to receive the truth!
How urgently we need the truth. It is a beautiful and alarming thing. Sin is a blinding enemy. It thrives on false advertising about itself, and it lies to us about God and about us. Because we are sinners, we love to be lied to, and we prefer not to get too close to the light.
19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
We like to be lied to in a way that fits our self-centered choices.
We like to be told things that agree with our proud views of ourselves.
We like to be told that our particular sins are justifiable.
Can you think of lies that you are believing, areas of pride that you are harboring, or sins and doubts that you are justifying?
If we are to be rescued from ourselves, we will need someone who brings us the truth. Jesus is infinitely full of truth!
Jesus is infinitely full of Grace
Jesus is infinitely full of Grace
What good would the truth be if God did not also give His Son infinite love to bring to those who could not deserve it?
Think about it if Jesus is full of truth that means that He knows everything about you. What if every detail of your life was fully know to someone? That is a scary thought. But, what if that person that knows every detail about your life is also full of an unlimited supply of grace (unmerited kindness and favor)?
Think about the people Jesus loved in the gospels: a prostitute, an embezzling tax-collector, a political revolutionary, a misguided Bible teacher, and a thief. Consider also that Jesus did not love any of these people because of what they offered Him or His kingdom.
He, being infinite God, did not love them for what He could get from them (for He needed nothing), but for what He could give them (they needed everything).
We need both truth and grace, and we need them from a source that cannot be depleted.
Without truth, grace would be turned into a sentimentalized religion in which we use God’s love for self-indulgence.
Without grace, truth would present us with an unbearable reflection of our spiritual pollution and God’s relentless rage against every sin.
16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
What does it mean that we have received grace upon grace?
The idea is that one expression of undeserved favor from God is given in exchange for another. It shows the continual refreshing of the believer’s life as God sens fresh grace each moment. The reality is something like the waves of the sea: one rolls upon the dandy beach and washes it, and as it recedes another follows and replaces it.
Grace after grace, grace in the place of grace, grace on the heels of grace—the fullness of God in Jesus brings this to every genuine Christian.
There can be no mistaking John’s meaning: for the followers of Jesus, the undeserved expressions of divine friendship will never grow stale, never come to an end. Why? Because it was the Father’s pleasure that all the fullness of God would be untied to Jesus’ humanity.
How many millions of dazzling pearls and gems are at this moment hidden in the deep recesses of the ocean caves. Likewise, unfathomable oceans of grace are in Christ for you. Dive and dive again—you will never come to the bottom of these depths. —Robert Murray
The infinite God has come to us in the person of Jesus Christ. He has come with all the fullness of His deity. He has become a fountain of never-ending grace and truth to everyone who follows Him.