The Godhood of God # 8

The Godhood of God # 8

How far away have the present-day admirers of Spurgeon departed from the teaching of this prince of preachers! Mark carefully the next sentences. "Our text, however, puts the prerogative upon the one sole ground of Lordship, and we prefer to come back to that. "Unto God the Lord belong the issues of death." It is a doctrine which is very unpalatable in these days, but one nevertheless which is to be held and taught - that God is an absolute Sovereign, and does as He wills. The words of Paul must be noted: "Nay, but O man, who are you that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it; Why have you made me thus?" The Lord cannot do amiss. His perfect nature is a law unto itself. In his case, the King is the law."

Is God partial? Certainly He is. And has He not the right to be? Shall He not dispense His favors as He wills - and bestow His gifts on whom He pleases? But it is reasonable to suppose that God who is Love has created millions of creatures to be lost? seeing that His elect constitute but a "remnant," a few in comparison with the great multitudes who die unsaved? We reply, it is not a question of reason - but of revelation.

There are many things revealed in Scripture which are contrary to reason. Is it reasonable to think that God would give His only begotten Son to die for sinners? Ah, reason is ruled out entirely here. And so in many other things. If it lay within the power of the reader, would you allow your worst enemy to be eternally tormented? And if you are honest, you will promptly answer, "No!" But God will deal thus with His enemies, and the sentence will be a righteous one, whether we can now discern its justice or not, for the Judge of all the earth will do right. How far asunder then is carnal reasoning, from the teaching of Holy Writ concerning Eternal Punishment!

Once more: here is satan, the age-long enemy of God - the one who has wrought incalculable evil,securely imprisoned at last in teh bottomless pit. There he remains chained for a thousand years. Now would you, my reader, suggest for a moment that the devil be released from that prison after the earth had been freed for a thousand years from his vile presence? Certainly not, and yet this is precisely what Divine revelation declares shall come to pass? The truth makes known how that God will cause the serpent to be "loosed" for a little season, that God will allow this, even though He knows beforehand that the consequences will be the most dreadful revolt on the part of men, under satan - revolt against God, which this earth has ever witnessed!

Truly God's ways are different from ours. Learn then the utter folly of men attempting to pronounce upon the reasonableness or unreasonableness of the doings and dealings of the Most High God.

One of the most flagrant sins of this age is irreverence. I am not now thinking of open blasphemy, or the taking of God's name in vain. Irreverence is, also, failure to ascribe the glory which is due the great and dreadful majesty of the Almighty. It is the limiting of His power and actions by our degrading conceptions. It is the bringing of the Lord down to our level.

There are multitudes of those who do not profess to be Christians who deny that God is the omnipotent Creator - and there are multitudes of professing Christians who deny that God is absolute Sovereign. Men boast of their free will, prate of their power, and are proud of their achievements. They do not know that their lives are at the sovereign disposal of the Divine Monarch! They do not know that they have no more power to thwart His secret counsel, than a worm has to resist the tread of an elephant!! They do not know that God is the Potter, and they the clay!

This is the harvest of all life's lessons, and when we think we have learned them, we soon discover that we have need to re-learn them. God is God and has the right to dispose of me as He sees fit. It is for Him to say where I shall live - whether in America or Africa. It is for Him to say under what circumstances I shall live - whether amid riches or poverty, whether health or in sickness. It is for Him to say how long I shall live - whether I shall be cut down in youth, or whether I shall live unto old age. Yes, it is for Him to say where I shall spend eternity!

The first sin of man was the refusal to be clay in the Potter's hand. Adam wanted to be something more, "You shall be as Gods" was the bait which the tempter used to hurl him to his destruction.

That which differentiated the life of Christ from all other lives, was His absolute and joyous submission to the Father's will, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me" struck the keynote of the thirty-three years that He tabernacled among men.

Have you profited by the example left us by the Beloved of the Father? Has Divine grace shown you how to wear your creature nature? Only if you do not live in self-assertion - but in self-renunciation. Only if in the school of Christ you have been taught to say, "Not my will - but may Your will be done." O may Divine grace so subjue our rebellious hearts!

~A. W. Pink~

(The End)