Forwards, in the sense of progress in revelation or knowing God, speaks of going forward by advancing our own genuine understanding of God's glory. We know about God because he planned ahead for His glory to be revealed - to be known! The eternal God determined to be known by someone: by YOU ! "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands." (Psalm 19:1 nasv) Paul wrote the Roman Christians on this subject and pointed-out that God deserves ... "the glory forever" ... "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen." Though able to reveal Himself through the created universe, God goes far beyond our observation to His own Special Revelation of Himself, in Christ and through Israel's Fathers, and writing Prophets and Apostles.
In Francis A. Schaeffer's book "Genesis: In Space and Time." we find a real encouragement to place our faith in the God of Truth, the Bible. Dr. Schaeffer uses Bible scriptures to trace: the course of events from the creation of the universe and onwards. He begins his thoughts with Psalm 136, as his backdrop for observing the unfolding of biblical history. Dr Schaeffer leads us to focus on the concept of God as Creator in light of the proper relation to man as creature and worshiper.
Oh, give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good;
for his mercy endureth forever.
Oh, give thanks unto the God of gods;
for his mercy endureth forever.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords;
for his mercy endureth forever.
To him who alone doeth great wonders;
for his mercy endureth forever.
(Hubble: TelescopeSept 2009)
To him who by wisdom made the heavens;
for his mercy endureth forever.
To him who stretched out the earth above the waters;
for his mercy endureth forever.
To him who made great lights;
for his mercy endureth forever:
The sun to rule by day;
for his mercy endureth forever:
The moon and stars to rule by night;
for his mercy endureth forever.
This Psalm provides us with the logic for giving God the Glory. This glory is rightfully His as He is the Creator and Sustainer of life itself. Such "life" is personal (or rather "life" based upon God stepping into or "acting in history"). One example of how God acted in particular moments of space-time history is seen in God's activity to insure that the Jewish nation would have "an heritage" (or in other words, would be "remembered" by God or rather be blessed later in history) All of this should teach us of his love or mercy - toward all - providing us with a sense of (or a revelation ... as to ) His nature and divine character.
To him who smote Egypt in their first-born;
for his mercy endureth forever:
And brought out Israel from among them;
for his mercy endureth forever.
Even an heritage unto Israel, his servant;
for his mercy endureth forever.
Who remembered us in our low estate;
for his mercy endureth forever:
And hath redeemed us from our enemies;
for his mercy endureth forever.
Who giveth food to all flesh;
for his mercy endureth forever.
“Oh, give thanks unto the God of heaven;
for his mercy endureth forever.
Dr. Schaeffer points out that Biblical Scripture's "space-timeness" as history provides us with the "mentality of the whole Scripture" and this factor unlocks insight into God, as God really is. This is so obviously important to our study of God! Dr. Schaeffer wants us to understand that creation is as "historically real as the history of the Jews and our own present moment of time." He adds that: "Both the Old and the New Testaments deliberately root themselves back into the early chapters of Genesis, insisting that they are a record of historical events. What is the hermeneutical principle involved here? Surely the Bible itself gives it: the early chapters of Genesis are to be viewed completely as history — just as much so, let us say, as records concerning Abraham, David, Solomon or Jesus Christ."
Then, looking at Genesis chapter one, Dr. Schaeffer then points-out that: "Space and time are like warp and woof. Their interwoven relationship is history. Thus the opening sentence of Genesis and the structure of what follows emphasize that we are dealing here with history just as much as if we talked about ourselves at this moment at a particular point of time in a particular geographic place."
The point that Dr. Schaeffer wants to make is - that the modern concept of truth, i.e. "— that truth is irrational" -- is so very different that that which the Scripture uses. Old Testament and New Testament Scriptures see "true Truth" as "that which is open to discussion, open to rationality, and is not just an existential leap," but rather, rationality that "is rooted in that which is historical."
Then Dr. Schaeffer demonstrates this in a paraphrase of John’s explanation of why he wrote the Gospel of John. “And many other space-time proofs [that is what the idea is here] truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:30, 31).
All of this leads Dr. Schaeffer to emphasize, that: "Although Genesis begins, “In the beginning,” that does not mean that there was not anything before that. In John 17:24, Jesus prays to God the Father, saying, “Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” Jesus says that God the Father loved Him prior to the creation of all else. And in John 17:5 Jesus asks the Father to glorify Him, Jesus Himself, “with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.”
Allow me to quote Dr. Schaeffer's book extensively here. He states: "There is, therefore, something that reaches back into eternity — back before the phrase “in the beginning.” Christ existed, and He had glory with the Father, and He was loved by the Father before “in the beginning.” In Ephesians 1:4 we read, “... he [God] hath chosen us in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world ... .” Thus, before “in the beginning” something other than a static situation existed. A choice was made, and that choice shows forth thought and will. We were chosen in Him before the creation of the world. The same thing is emphasized in 1 Peter 1:20, where the sacrificial death of Jesus is said to have been “foreordained before the foundation of the world.” Likewise Titus 1:2 says that God promised eternal life “before the world began.” This is very striking. How can a promise be made before the world began? To whom could it be made? The Scripture here speaks of a promise made by the Father to the Son or to the Holy Spirit because, after all, at this particular point of sequence there was no one else to make the promise to.
Finally, the same point is made in 2 Timothy 1:9, where we read about God, “who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” We are faced, therefore, with a very interesting question: When did history begin? If one is thinking with the modern concept of the space-time continuum, then it is quite obvious that time and history did not exist before “in the beginning.” But if we are thinking of history in contrast to an eternal, philosophic other or in contrast to a static eternal, then history began before Genesis 1:1.
We must choose our words carefully here, of course. How shall we talk about the situation before “in the beginning”? To avoid confusion, I have chosen the word sequence, in contrast to the word time as used in the concept of the space-time continuum. It will remind us that something was there before “in the beginning” and that it was more than a static eternal.
After creation, God worked into time and communicated knowledge to man who was in time. And since he did this, it is quite obvious that it is not the same to God before creation and after creation. The Scripture pictures this before “in the beginning as something that can be stated. While we cannot exhaust the meaning of what is involved, we can know it truly. It is a reasonable concept, one that we can discuss.
This subject is not merely theoretical. What is involved is the reality of the personal God in all eternity in contrast to the philosophic other or impersonal everything which is frequently the twentieth-century theologian’s concept of God. What is involved is the reality of the personal God in contrast to a theoretical unmoved mover, or man’s purely subjective thought protection. There is more here than contentless, religious truth achieved through some sort of existential leap. Consequently, when we read, “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” we are not left with something hung in a vacuum: something existed before creation and that something was personal and not static; the Father loved the Son; there was a plan; there was communication; and promises were made prior to the creation of the heavens and the earth."
The Dr. Schaeffer refers to Jean-Paul Sartre, stating that Sartre "well pointed out the basic philosophic problem that faces us: the fact that something, rather than nothing, is there." Dr. Schaeffer adds: "This is the incontestable and irreducible minimum for beginning to move as a man. I cannot say nothing is there; it is quite plain that something is there. Furthermore, it is also clear that this something that is there has two parts. I am there, and something in contrast to myself is there. ... the number of final possibilities is very few indeed. ... with the notion that everything began with an impersonal something, being the consensus of the Western world and almost all Eastern thinking. Dr. Schaeffer then explains that: "It is the view of scientism, or what I have called elsewhere modern modern science, and is embodied in the notion of the uniformity of natural causes in a closed system. And it is also the concept of much modern theology if one presses it back far enough. An impersonal beginning, however, raises two overwhelming problems which neither the East nor modern man has come anywhere near solving. First, there is no real explanation for the fact that the external world not only exists, but has a specific form. Despite its frequent attempt to reduce the concept of the personal to the area of chemical or psychological conditioning, scientific study demonstrates that the universe has an express form. One can go from particulars to a greater unity, from the lesser laws to more and more general laws or super-laws. In other words, as I look at the Being which is the external universe, it is obviously not just a handful of pebbles thrown out there. What is there has form. If we assert the existence of the impersonal as the beginning of the universe, we simply have no explanation for this kind of situation.
Second, and more important, if we begin with an impersonal universe, there is no explanation of personality. In a very real sense the question of questions for all generations — but overwhelmingly so for modern man — is, “Who am I?” For when I look at the “I” that is me and then look around to those who face me and are also men, one thing is immediately obvious: Man has a “mannishness.” You find it wherever you find man — not only in the men who live today, but in the artifacts of history. The assumption of an impersonal beginning cannot adequately explain the personal beings we see around us; and when men try to explain man on the basis of an original impersonal, man soon disappears.
In short, an impersonal beginning explains neither the form of the universe nor the personality of man. Hence it gives no basis for understanding human relationships, building just societies, or engaging in any kind of cultural effort. It’s not just the man in the university who needs to understand these questions. The farmer, the peasant, anyone at all who moves and thinks needs to know. That is, as I look and see that something is there, I need to know what to do with it. The impersonal answer at any level and at any place at any time of history does not explain these two basic factors — the universe and its form, and the “mannishness” of man. And this is so whether it is expressed in the religious terms of pantheism or modern scientific terms. But the Judeo-Christian tradition begins with the opposite answer. And it is upon this that our whole Western culture has been built. The universe had a personal beginning — a personal beginning on the high order of the Trinity. That is, before “in the beginning” the personal was already there. Love and thought and communication existed prior to the creation of the heavens and the earth.
Modern man is deeply plagued by the question, “Where do love and communication come from?” Many artists who pour themselves out in their paintings, who paint bleak messages on canvas, many singers, many poets and dramatists are expressing the blackness of the fact that while everything hangs upon love and communication, they don’t know where these come from and they don’t know what they mean. The biblical answer is quite otherwise: something was there before creation. God was there; love and communication were there; and therefore, prior even to Genesis 1:1, love and communication are intrinsic to what always has been.
Having considered the questions surrounding creation, history and what to do with what is there; we also considered that a mankind of the personal is rooted in an eternal God who is personal - not impersonal. All of this leads us to the question of all questions: How interested in me is the eternal God? If you believe God is impersonal you will of course accept that He is disinterested, as well!
When I speak to people about God they usually beigin by pointing out that they were "brought-up in a Christian home”, or some will say that though they admit to having faults ... “there was never a time" ... that they ... "did not believe.” It would be helpful if people would honestly ask themselves a few questions about their understanding or misunderstandings regarding the Character of God before assuming they know the Lord as their Savior and Lord!
If we careful read Romans 11:33 “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” -- we cannot miss the solemn warning and challenge of Paul the apostle regarding the issue of really getting to know God, God, that is, as He really is!
The (Grk.“bathos”) “depth” of the riches… emphasized in Romans 11:33 makes the most direct possible reference to the Lord’s … exhaustless Grace and Goodness, and to the Lord’s incomprehensible Providence( i.e. practical or busy being active on the basis of eternal wisdom), and the Lord’s superabundant Omniscience. Scriptures such as Proverbs 15:3 “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” and verse 11 “Hell and destruction are before the LORD: how much more then the hearts of the children of men?” - All of these verses further draw our attention to another - yet especially related - aspect of the Lord’s own personal interest and concern for us. God is truly concerned for his creation and this speaks of the importance of our having a genuine redemptive and personal relationship -- not just one that is superficial, formal, or creedal -- with the Living God must not be overlooked !
Jeremiah 23:23-25 asks a few questions society often fails to consider as carefully as they should. “Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? 24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. 25 I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.” God is not matter, but Spirit, i.e. immaterial substance, invisible, uncompounded and indestructible.
In Paul’s wonderful doxology of Praise to God the truths of God are clearly presented as being beyond human knowledge and apprehension. “Christianity is life’s greatest spiritual symphony, composed by the Master Musician Himself! It is the greatest drama of the ages, the most thrilling love story of time and eternity, filled with all the divine pathos that the Holy Spirit could reveal and record in human speech. What passion and compassion God has stored up for those He loves is fully revealed in the Saviour’s suffering on the cross. Only the love of God transcends human knowledge could have endured such extreme anguish and agony that He might redeem His own.
Thus the holiness of God’s love reveals His justice and righteousness. Since man is devoid of these divine attributes. God did it all. “Salvation is of Jehovah’ (Jonah 2:9). God’s mysteries are fathomless. ... The love of God is infinite, beyond human reason or logic and is therefore incomprehensible to the mind of man. Does the love of God ever reason as we reason? God is love (1 John 4:8) and loves because of His very nature. God’s love is the keynote of creation and the motif or inspired theme of His plan of redemption for the human race.”
God is seeking those who are willing to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. By “Character” -when referring to God – we apply terms to describe “attributes” of His personality which God has revealed concerning Himself. These attributes of Character relate to the inner being of God and to those that are involved in God’s relations in Himself.
God’s Character: spirituality, infinity and perfection include the matters of life, personality, self-existence, immutability, unity, truth, love and holiness. Matters of God’s Nature, i.e. eternity, omnipresence and love, also often inter-relate to His Character and are important to our having an accurate ‘understanding’ of Him and of His desire to communicate, care for and build redemptive relationships with His own creation.
Psalm 139:7 “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."
The fact that the Scriptures teach that God is ever-present needs to be considered more carefully. God’s presence, of course, speaks of His power, but it also speaks in a most special way of His characteristic love, His interest in us - as His (fallen) creation. In other words, God’s omnipresence not only assures us of His greatness, but of His Sovereign ability and interest as regards His creation. The God that is here and not far off … is a God Divine in mercy and grace. If we give serious thought to the question, “Is there any place one could go and not find God already present?” – one might better understand God as a most relational (personal) being.
The Lord is there - this speaks of His Glory, and because of His Divine Love He is there for you - this too speaks of His Glory. He is there before you, for your own good. He is there to be communed with, to be communicated with, to be learned of , to be ‘known,’ to be understood and to be humbly worshipped! Salvation is not something done for you by others (by proxy), or to be accomplished by some distant or abstract ‘faith’ or blind obedience.
Salvation is relational - in simple words salvation offers to establish and build a new relationship. Faith, then, is as God is, i.e. personal. God offers you, personally, the faith to believe, and is seeking those prepared to actively believe-in and follow Him. Romans 11:33 “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!“
Ask yourself... and write me if you like... about these rather vital questions:
1. According to Rom 10:9-13 what is wrong with the answer, I was brought up as a Christian (?) or there never was a time I did not believe?
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Ephesians 2: 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
Far too many people have a false sense of assurance regarding their salvation. For many people church attendance, baptism, daily prayer and Bible study assure them that they are true Christians. Others believe by helping the poor or doing other good deeds they are gaining God’s favor and thus forgiveness for their sins. They simply regard these "good deeds" as a way to obtaining or pay for their salvation. In other words they want to earn salvation.
2. As the concept of "good deeds" -- as a route to salvation -- is so obviously unbiblical and so clearly wrong from a logical stand point, what then must a person do, according to the Bible, to be saved?
3. Why do you imagine Paul asks a question regarding the greatness (otherness) of God? (“For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?” Rom 11:34)
Since the answer to Romans 11:34’s question is found within the question itself, you may find then a need to follow that conclusion a bit further by also considering Isaiah 55: 6 If this, then, be the case in fact … what must I so to ‘know’ God? Isaiah, under the inspiration of God Himself answers … “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
4. How well do you acknowledge the wonderful character traits and attributes of God ? Do you know Him? Do you love Him? Do you serve Him?
Romans 11:35 “…. Who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?” In this short (rhetorical) question our attention is refocused on the grandeur of God’s character and attributes. Everything that man has God has given him. Yet man stubbornly refuses to acknowledge this! “No one has been beforehand with God in conferring any kind of benefit…”
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