Aquaintance With God Part 2
The Westminster Shorter Confession of Faith's chief end of man states that we should glorify God and enjoy Him forever. We cannot glorify, love, and enjoy God forever unless we come to know Him. When we look into the book He has given us to read, meditate, and hide in our hearts, we will see that as a believer in Him, He is a friend to us. He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother (Prov.18:24), He is our great lover, (John 3:16), and He is our source of all hope, and joy, and peace (Rom.15:13). "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that you will abound in hope by the Holy Spirit." Hope is a full assurance and confident expectation that good things will happen. Peace replaces bitterness, by faith. The precept of joy is that we should be cheerful, that we should be thankful, that we should rejoice. All that will come from knowing God.
A great statement of Jesus in His high priestly prayer is found in John 17:3,"This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." To be acquainted with God brings great good now, and never-ending joy here after. God is a Spirit, one we cannot see but accept on faith, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. He is all-wise, all-powerful, thrice-holy. He had no beginning and will have no end. He has infinite knowledge, Isa.46:9,"He knows the end from the beginning." Psalm 139:18,"In Your book were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them." Men judge the hearts by actions, God judges the actions by the heart. He is eternal, Psalm 90:2,"Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God." Some like us have a beginning and an end, some like angels have a beginning and no end, but God has no beginning and no end.
He is unchangeable. Mal.3:6," I am God, I change not." He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Heb.13:8) He will never cease loving His children, any more than He will cease loving His Son Jesus. We may lose things in this life, but we will never lose God. He also is all-wise. Job 9:4,"He is wise in heart." The heart is the seat of wisdom. The sun is far away, but not too far, the sun is close, but not too close. And more importantly He has contrived a way to reconcile a sinful man with a holy God. (Col.1:22)His Son Jesus would become flesh and dwell among us(John 1:14) the second person of the blessed Trinity. Justice must be paid for our sin, so Jesus died once for all, the just for the unjust(1Pet.3:18). His wisdom points us to faith in Him and not works to earn salvation, it truly is amazing grace.
Commentator Alexander MacLaren states, "Acquaintance with God is, not merely procures, good. To know Him, to clasp Him to our hearts as our Friend, our Infinite Lover, our source of all peace and joy, to mold our wills to His and let Him dominate our whole selves, to seek our well-being in Him alone- what else or what more can a soul need to be filled with all good." Lastly, He is merciful or good. Psalm 119:68,"You are good and do good. He is the Father of mercies. (2Cor.1:3) Mercy is the ready inclination of God to relieve the misery of His fallen creatures. The sun is not so full of light as God is full of mercy. God's justice may make us fear Him, but His mercy makes us love Him. Look into His word to know Him, His peace He leaves with you, that which surpasses all comprehension, and it will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Elder Randy Slak
11/01/2023