Word of Salvation – Vol. 24 No. 18 – February 1978

 

God

 

Sermon by Rev. S. Voorwinde, M.A., M.Th. on John 14:9

Scripture reading: Isaiah 40:12-26; John 14:1-10

 

Who... or What... is God?

There is hardly a more significant question that we could be asking you this morning. For what we believe about God is the most important thing about us.

Our belief about God or our lack of belief in God is inevitably going to translate itself into attitudes and actions on our part. This is not only a religious question or a philosophical question. It is an intensely practical question as well. Who or What is God?

In the minds of some people God is the celestial killjoy, the voice of conscience that always prevents them from having a good time and really enjoying life. According to J. B. Phillips, these people see God as being no more than a "resident policeman".

Others think of God as a sentimental grandfather in the sky. He rocks benignly and strokes his beard as He says: "Boys will be boys!" They believe that everything will work out in the end, no matter what you have done.

Still others believe that He is neither a policeman nor a grand- father, but simply an impersonal force or "a pure mathematical mind."

Albert Einstein, one of the greatest scientists of all time, held this kind of view. This is what he said: "My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God." (Thus for Albert Einstein).

These are inspiring words from a man who was perhaps one of the greatest human minds that ever walked the earth. Yet God is more than "a superior reasoning power." We are not yet doing justice to the Biblical concept of God. But what is the Biblical concept of God? How would you put it? How would you define God?

In answer to this question there is that classical definition of God that has stood the test of time for over three centuries. As a definition it probably stands unmatched in Christian thought. We are referring to question and answer 4 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism:

What is God?

God is a Spirit, infinite and eternal and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.

As we said, this definition stands unparalleled. It is simple. It is Biblical. It is precise.

And yet at the same time there is a danger in that kind of definition. Because it is so good and so accurate, we not only define God but we can also confine God to that definition. It's tempting to rattle off a definition in catechism class and then to say: "Now I know who God is.” You've put a label on God and now you can store Him away neatly on the shelf of your mind. You've finished your catechism lesson on the nature of God and now you can go onto the next lesson. You've read the chapter in the theology book about the attributes of God and now you can go on to the next chapter.

Well, maybe some philosophers can do that. Maybe even some theologians can do that. But you don't find the Bible writers doing that. Their minds are always throbbing with excitement at the thought of who God is. They are overcome with wonder and amazement as they let their minds dwell on God.

The same is true of believers today. When you stop to think about God, then very soon your mind is overwhelmed.

You begin to think along the lines of that well-known hymn:

"O Lord, my God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works Thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee:
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee,
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!"

As down the ages believers have thought and looked and wondered, then this has been their unanimous response: "How great Thou art! How great Thou art!”

And this is exactly what Isaiah is doing in his fortieth chapter. He is contemplating the grandeur of his God:

1. "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand?" To Him even the Pacific Ocean is but a few drops of water in the palm of His hand.

2. "Who has marked off the heavens by the span?" As with a school-boy's ruler He measures the distance between the planets and the stars.

3. "And Who has calculated the dust of earth by the measure?" He carries a scoop, in which there is room for all the dust of which the earth consists.

4. "And Who has weighed the mountains in a balance, and the hills in a pair of scales?" He weighs Mt. Everest and Gibraltar on a scale like a butcher would weigh a pound of meat.

For Isaiah it is abundantly clear that God controls all, knows all, and rules all. Even the mightiest of creatures are absolutely dwarfed by their Creator: "Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; behold, he lifts up the islands like fine dust." For Him even the whole country of Australia, despite all its vastness, is like a drop in a bucket and like a speck of dust.

And the islands - Tasmania, New Zealand, New Guinea are like fine dust. Even more, the nations are as nothing. They are less than nothing and meaningless. The truth of what Isaiah says so poetically can today be shown to be all too true scientifically.

On a clear night you go out into the country, preferably to the outback where there are no lights and there's no dust in the sky. And then look at the stars and then you'll see that from one end of the heavens to the other is one vast array of stars, one entire Milky Way. It's an amazing experience.

And then you begin to wonder: And how many of them are there? How far away are those stars?

When I was in the early days of High School we were given a science exam. It was one of many. And I distinctly remember a question that I couldn't answer: "What is a light year?" Was it the opposite of a heavy year? I didn't know but I soon found out. A light year is the distance that light travels in a year. And as light travels 186,000 miles per second, that's quite a distance. For instance, the Sun is 93 million miles away and its light reaches the Earth in 8 minutes. So when you look at the Sun it's not what the Sun is right now but what it was like 8 minutes ago. So if light travels 93 million miles in 8 minutes, just think of how far it travels in a whole year!

Now comes the question: How far away are those stars?

Well first let me remind you that the Earth, and the Solar System of which it is part, form a small component of the galaxy called the Milky Way. Now this Milky Way is 100,000 light years in diameter. It is 100,000 light years from one end to the other!

But the Milky Way is just one of many such galaxies. According to "TIME" magazine on Dec.27, 1976, astronomers today envision a universe that contains 10 billion galaxies like the Milky Way - each one an island of hundreds of billions of stars. And according to the "ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA" the average distance between neighbouring galaxies is 10 million light years.

These figures and these distances are of course too stupendous for us to understand. Yet what an eloquent commentary modern astronomy is on verse 26 of Isaiah 40:

"Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power: Not one of them is missing.”

Hundreds of billions of stars in 10 billion galaxies - He calls them all by name and not one of them is missing!

If this is so then how greatly we can appreciate the words of David in the eighth Psalm, and with him we can sing!

"Lord, our Lord, Thy glorious Name
All Thy wondrous works proclaim;
In the heavens with radiant signs
Evermore Thy glory shines.

Moon and stars in shining height
Nightly tell their Maker's might;
When Thy wondrous heavens I scan,
Then I know how weak is man."

But if man is so weak, if compared to the galaxies of the universe he is so small, then how can he know anything about the God Who made it all? Even if like Einstein, he has the grandest thoughts about God, must he still not be told: "Your God is too small?" Can his mind ever adequately think about God?

Can the finite probe the infinite?

Herbert Spencer was one of the popularisers of agnosticism a century ago. He observed accurately that a bird has never been known to fly out of space. Therefore he concluded by analogy that it is impossible for the finite to penetrate the infinite.

His observation was correct, but his conclusion was wrong.

He missed the other possibility, that the infinite could penetrate the finite.

This is of course exactly what God has done. Hebrews 1:1,2:-

"God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in his Son."

God has spoken. The Creator of distant galaxies has not remained silent. He has spoken through the prophets and more recently through His Son.

Someone has correctly called our earth, "the visited planet". Surely the best and clearest answer to how we know there is a God and what kind of a God He is, is that He has visited us. The other indications are merely clues or hints. We know what God is like because He became like one of us and told us in the clearest way what He is like. Through Christ, God has told us what in a million years we could never have figured out for ourselves.

Jesus said: "I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me.” Philip said: "Lord, show us the Father." Jesus answered: "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father."

"He who has seen Me has seen the Father."

What an astounding claim for a man who just looked like everybody else. It's the very claim that John stated so early in his Gospel:

"No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son of God, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him." (1:18).

The man Christ Jesus was God and He has explained to mankind what God is like.

But you may say: "How am I to know that Jesus is God? Through history many people have made this claim and even today people are making these claims. How can I know that Jesus' claim is the true one?"

Well, similar questions must have been running through the minds of His disciples. They too were wondering whether this man in front of them was the Lord of the Universe. And so He gives two reasons for believing:

1. His character;

2 What He does.

John 14:11:

"Believe Me... (an appeal to personal trust in His character), ...believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; otherwise believe on account of the works themselves.”

The disciples were wavering in their faith. So Jesus urged them to take Him at his word! But if this is too difficult for them, then let them believe because of His works. Let them believe because of His miracles!

God gave men life. Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. It was God who made the ear and the eye. When Jesus lays on His healing hand, the deaf hear and the blind see.

God fed the children of Israel with manna in the wilderness. Jesus miraculously feeds the 4,000 and then the 5,000.

But the greatest proof of all that Jesus is God are the events surrounding His death and resurrection:

When he saw how Jesus died, a Roman centurion had to cry out: "Surely this was the Son of God."

And in the opening verses of Romans, Paul states that Jesus Christ "was declared with power to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead." (1:4).

What more proof can you want than that?

Think of His miracles!

Think of the circumstances attending His death!

Think of His resurrection!

Other people come pretending to be Messiahs, pretending to be God. Even today there's Rev. Sun Moon from Korea. There's the young guru Maharishi from India. Yet on what do they base their claims to have they performed miracles, have they ever been raised from the dead?

The Lord Jesus then is the answer to the philosophers' and the theologians' questions: Who is God and what is He like? Jesus, too, is the answer to David's question as he is awe-struck by his own smallness and by the loving care of the God who made the stars:

"What is man that he should be
Loved and visited by Thee,
Raised to an exalted height,
Crowned with honour in thy sight!
How great Thy Name!"

What a miracle that our God so vast, so eternal, so infinite should care so much for us. If He were like us He would treat us like we treat ants or amoeba or microscopic animals. But not so God. Even though He is so mighty and so big, He has stooped so that we might be exalted:

"And when I think: that God His Son not sparing,
Sent Him to die! I scarce can take it in:
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died, to take away my sin:
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee:
How great Thou art, How great Thou art."

AMEN!