We Exist That We May Know Him

Tonight at church, my Pastor gave me (Thanks Robby!) an extra copy he had of Biblical Theology by Geerhardus Vos (1862-1949). I’m very excited to own a copy of this now as my interest in Vos has been peeked in him recently; and partly because I have also been getting acquainted with Owen’s Biblical Theology as well; that is, Biblical Theology versus Systematic Theology. When I got home, I started reading some of the first chapter, Introduction: The Nature and Method of Biblical Theology, and so far it is very good! Right off the bat, Vos reorders our way of thinking about Theology. He orders everything after God, not God after man. Here’s a sample:

God must come to us before we can go to Him. But God is not a personal being in general. He is a Being infinitely exalted above our highest conception. Suppose it were possible for one human spirit to penetrate directly into another human spirit: it would still be impossible for the spirit of man to penetrate into the Spirit of God. This emphasizes the necessity of God’s opening up to us the mystery of His nature before we can acquire any knowledge concerning Him. Indeed, we can go one step farther still. In all scientific study we exist alongside of the objects which we investigate. But in Theology the relation is reversed. Originally God existed alone. He was known to Himself alone, and had first to call into being a creature before any extraneous knowledge with regard to Him became possible. Creation therefore was the first step in the production of extra-divine knowledge.

-Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology Old and New Testaments, page 4

Spurgeon on Knowing Christ

“Why do men write lives of Christ who know nothing about His main business and object? Why do some preach about Christ who do not know the very essence and heart of Him? Think of knowing Milton, but not as a poet, and Bacon, but not as a philosopher! There is no knowing our Lord, if He be not known as a Saviour; for He is that or nothing. Those who fall short of His salvation do not even know His name; how, then, should they know His person? His name is not Jesus because He is our exemplar, though indeed He is perfection itself, and we long to tread in His footsteps; but His name is called Jesus because He has come to save that which was lost.”

-Charles H. Spurgeon, from a sermon on Matt. 1:21

Exult in Monotony!

I have always loved this insightful quote by Chesterton….

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”

— G.K. Chesterton

The Best Laid Plans

I am currently preparing to teach on the Tabernacle for Sunday School at church and I have found myself constantly checking with the book of Revelation to see what it will be like in  the New Heaven and New Earth, which will be the perfect and complete Tabernacle. Since I build cabinets and furniture, I am reminded that I start with what I want to end up with. Every project has to be built in my mind and on paper before it can be built in reality, else what goals do I have? I see the same in the example of the Tabernacle which is in progress all through Scripture to the end of a perfected fellowship with God, and in us…

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Eph 2:10 NKJV)
you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1Pe 2:5 NKJV)

In woodworking, the trees start out rough and require work to turn them into something useful. They must be killed, dried, and cut in order to make them a new, lasting creation. The work of which cannot be done by the tree for itself. It cannot become anything without the work and effort of the craftsman. I see Christ in this example. We do not just work to produce something for the sake of work. We work that we may see an example of Christ, ‘For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus….’.

Everything points us to Christ, even our work.

Prayerless

“P.T. Forsyth once said, ‘The worst sin is prayerlessness.’ Does this statement surprise us? We usually think of murder and adultery as among the worst offenses against God and humanity. But the root of all sin is self-sufficiency–independence from the rule of God. When we fail to wait prayerfully for God’s guidance and strength, we are saying with our actions, if not with our words that we do not need Him. How much of our service is actually a “going it alone”?
The opposite of such independence is prayer in which we acknowledge our need of God’s guidance and empowerment. In this respect we have seen the example by Jesus in the Gospels. He lived and served in complete dependence on His Father. Contrary to popular views, such dependence does not limit or repress human personality. We are never so fully personal–free to become our true selves–as when we are living in complete dependence on God.”

-The Tyranny of The Urgent, Charles E. Hummel; IVP Books

My wife showed me this quote and I had to share it. Thanks honey!

The Greatness of God’s Wisdom

Why does God create something as unfathomable as the ocean? Not that we may be impressed by the creation, but in seeing it we may understand what God is saying about Himself. The way we look at everything God has created should be in a way that sparks within us an awe for God. God is expressing Himself. We must look at the ocean, great as it is while we stand at the shore of it understanding that the greatness of God’s wisdom cannot be grasped by the finite peering out across a small part of the surface. It is too great for us just as God’s wisdom is unsearchable

These depths we may admire and adore, but we cannot comprehend: “For who hath known the mind of the Lord herein, or with whom took he counsel?” Concerning the original causes of his counsels in this great mystery we can only say, “the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” This alone is left unto us in the way of duty, that in the effects of them we should contemplate on their excellency, so as to give glory to God, and live in a holy admiration of his wisdom and grace. For to give glory unto him, and admire him, is our present duty, until he shall come eternally “to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe,” 2 Thess. i. 10. We can do no more but stand at the shore of this ocean, and adore its unsearchable depths. What is delivered from them by divine revelation we may receive as pearls of price, to enrich and adorn our souls. For “the secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us,” that we may do “the words of this law,” Deut. xxix. 29.

John Owen, Volume 1, page 179

The Image of The Invisible God, part 3

Back On the Horse…
In the last post in this series, part 2, we ended with this quote by Owen:

Mankind seem to have always had a common apprehension that there was need of a nearer and more full representation of God unto them, than was made in any of the works of creation or providence.

Owen’s statement here, I believe, could offer us some insight into the idolatrous bent and affection found in man. If man has within him a natural desire or need of knowing God, though corrupted by the fall, then man’s desire to worship someone or something would certainly be another evidence of God’s self exposition to reveal His image. What I find so wonderful about all of this, is that God, even after the fall, still seeks to reveal Himself in an innumerable amount ways to a world full of fallen, unthankful creatures.

But in the pursuit hereof they utterly ruined themselves; they would do what God had not done. By common consent they framed representations of God unto themselves; and were so besotted therein, that they utterly lost the benefit which they might have received by the manifestation of him in the works of the creation, and took up with most foolish imaginations. For whereas they might have learned from thence the being of God, his infinite wisdom, power, and goodness—viz., in the impressions and characters of them on the things that were made—in their own representations of him, they “changed the glory of the invisible God into an image made like unto corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things:” Rom. i. 23.

Although…

…… it is granted, that God hath placed many characters of his divine excellencies upon his works of creation and providence—many [characters] of his glorious presence upon the tabernacle and temple of old—but none of these things ever did or could give such a representation of him as wherein the souls of men might fully acquiesce, or obtain such conceptions of him as might enable them to worship and honour him in a due manner. They cannot, I say—by all that may be seen in them, and learned from them—represent God as the complete object of all our affections, of all the actings of our souls in faith, trust, love, fear, obedience, in that way whereby he may be glorified, and we may be brought unto the everlasting fruition of him. This, therefore, is yet to be inquired after.

Until Next Time…

All this is done in the person of Christ. He is the complete image and perfect representation of the Divine Being and excellencies.

(All quotes taken from - The Works of John Owen, Volume 1, The Glory of Christ)

The Image of The Invisible God, part 2

“…The whole earth is full of His glory!”
In part one of this series, we mused briefly about shadows, not pointing to themselves but rather to what they represent. We can tell a shadow by its border and boundary. But when we see shadows of things representing God, we cannot find the borders, for the glory of God covers the whole earth, the whole universe, and in fact extends infinitely. But it is evident to the creature that there is a creator, for His glory is manifest in them and in all things around them.

Owen…

It is evident, therefore, that our conceptions of God, and of the glorious properties of his nature, are both ingenerated in us and regulated, under the conduct of divine revelation, by reflections of his glory on other things, and representations of his divine excellencies in the effects of them. So the invisible things of God, even his eternal power and Godhead, are clearly seen, being manifested and understood by the things that are made : Rom. i. 20. Yet must it be granted, that no mere creature, not the angels above, not the heaven of heavens, are meet or able to receive upon them such characters of the divine excellencies, as to be a complete, satisfactory representation of the being and properties of God unto us. They are all finite and limited, and so cannot properly represent that which is infinite and immense. And this is the true reason why all worship or religious adoration of them is idolatry. Yet are there such effects of God’s glory in them, such impressions of divine excellencies upon them, as we cannot comprehend nor search out unto perfection. How little do we conceive of the nature, glory,and power of angels! So remote are we from an immediate comprehension of the uncreated glory of God, as that we cannot fully apprehend, nor conceive aright, the reflection of it on creatures in themselves finite and limited. Hence, they thought of old, when they had seen an angel, that so much of the divine perfections had been manifested unto them that thereon they must die: Judges xiii. 21, 22. Howbeit, they [the angels] come infinitely short of making any complete representation of God; nor is it otherwise with any creature whatever.

So What Then?…
If it seems so impossible, why are we concerning ourselves with this course of study? Why is this even worth our time and investment to consider? Also, what questions are we hoping to answer in this endeavor? As Christians, every aspect of who we are finds its worth and validation in the person of Christ, who He is, what He has done, and who we are in Him. When the Bible says in Colossians 1:15, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” and again in Hebrews 1:3, “who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person,” it should be cause enough for us to stop and meditate, pondering what this means and what God is saying about Himself. If Christ is the express image of the person of God and we are conformed to the image of His Son, then we cannot find answers about ourselves by looking at ourselves, but rather by losing ourselves in an all-consumed seeking after Christ. Where is a bride to find her fulfillment except in her husband? And when she cannot see her husband, she is longing after him. Is this not the way it should be with the bride of Christ? Trying to learn about ourselves without looking at God is like trying to see what we look like without using a mirror. But we are made to be the reflection of His glory. We can only find Him when He is looking at us and we are made to seek after Him.

Until Next Time…
In the quote below, Owen begins his discourse on why man is so idolatrous, which we have touched on previously. But you can see where this leads….

Mankind seem to have always had a common apprehension that there was need of a nearer and more full representation of God unto them, than was made in any of the works of creation or providence.

The next time we will look at examples from Scripture of when God has revealed His uncreated glory. Stay tuned!

Being Known

We do not make friends with God; God makes friends with us, bringing us to know Him by making His love known to us. Paul expresses this thought of the priority of grace in our knowledge of God when he writes to the Galatians, “Now that you know God-or rather are known by God” (Gal4:9). What comes to the surface in this qualifying clause is the apostle’s sense that grace came first, and remains fundamental, in his readers’ salvation. Their knowing God was the consequence of God’s taking knowledge of them. They know Him by faith because He first singled them out by grace.
……All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me. I know Him because He first knew me, and continues to know me.

-J.I. Packer, Knowing God, page 41