Our Awesome God

The greatest act of God’s grace in human history was the gift of God’s only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Apostle John introduced Christ to the world, he said, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

Unseen winds refresh our planet daily. Similarly, the grace of God is invisible to our eyes. Yet, we see evidences of wind all around us: clouds move across the sky, leaves rustle on trees, and waves of wheat in fields yield to its mighty force. So, too, we can see the evidence of God’s grace all around us.

Today, grace and law are viewed widely as mutually exclusive. It is fallaciously assumed that the God of the Old Testament was the God of Law, and that the God of the New Testament is the God of grace. Terms like “the age of grace” reflect the mistaken assumption that before the cross there was no grace.

God has adorned this world with lovely flowers of every shape, size, and color. They testify of the Creator’s love for beauty. A Godly marriage, testifying of the union between Christ and His bride, is a beautiful thing to behold. Flowers not only look good, but they smell good too! Like a fragrant rose, a Christian marriage that reflects Christ’s love should give off the perfume of holiness and attract others to the Lord Jesus.

In His public ministry, Jesus made two statements about light that at first seem to stand in contradiction to one another. Recorded in John 8:12, Jesus said of Himself, “I am the light of the world.” According to Matthew 5:14, Jesus said of and to His disciples, “Ye are the light of the world.” How can this be? Who is the light of the world? Is Jesus the light of the world, or are we the light of the world?

Light seems to be a favorite theme in the writings of the Old Testament prophets. Living in dark days of judgment, destruction, devastation, and death, they longed for the day when the light of God’s own countenance would shine again upon His people. These prophets anticipated the day when the Light of the World, the promised Messiah, would dawn upon the horizon.

“Let there be light!” These are the first words spoken by God as recorded in Genesis 1:3. Is it not fascinating that light existed before there was a sun, a moon, or stars? By God’s creative command, light streamed through the universe! Yet, in spite of the vast progress of scientific knowledge, scientists today still struggle to accurately define light.

James, the brother of Jesus, was raised in Nazareth along with Jesus Christ as his eldest half-brother. Growing up, James personally witnessed Jesus increasing in wisdom, in stature, and in favor with God and man. He saw how his older half-brother obediently and respectfully submitted Himself to Mary and Joseph on a daily basis. James had seen the unchangeable perfections of our Lord on public display in Galilee.

It is important to understand that mankind views time differently from how God sees time. As created beings, we are locked in time. We cannot see the past nor the future other than as memories of days gone by or in anticipation of things to come. God, however, lives outside of time. He can see the past and the future as clearly as He sees the present.

Our God does not change. The assurance of God’s immutability gives us as His children a stable confidence in an unstable world. No matter who is in the White House, God is on the throne! No matter how formidable the sea to cross or the stronghold to conquer, God Who brings us forth in freedom is the same Who empowers us to stand firm for His glory.

The Lord answered Moses with an assertion of His own self-existence. “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM” (Exodus 3:14). God’s response must have come as a shock to Moses. God did not explain Himself. He did not set about to prove His existence by rational arguments. On the surface, the statement seems to repel inquiry and to have an air of aloofness, giving distance between the Israelites and God. Let’s take a moment to look a little deeper and consider the grammatical form of God’s revelation of Himself.

Four hundred years of silence from God were suddenly interrupted by a messenger sent from Heaven. The setting was the exact time as foretold by Daniel. The place was the sanctuary of the Temple, as foretold by Malachi. The recipient of the message was a priest named Zacharias, whose Hebrew name very fittingly means “the Lord Remembers.”

The wondrous mystery of the Triune God was on full display in the unique miracle of the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. When the archangel Gabriel brought news to a young maiden named Mary in the village of Nazareth, the messenger of Jehovah gave witness to the wonder of the Trinity. This special birth is unique in all of human history.

On his way to Athens, the ship on which Gregory traveled was beset by a tremendous storm that was similar to the one that was weathered by Paul in the Book of Acts. In the midst of this storm, Gregory of Nazianzus vowed that if God would spare his life, he would give himself to the proclamation of the Gospel and to the service of the Lord Jesus. As yet, the young scholar had not professed Christ or been baptized as a Christian.

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Although the subject of this first sentence is plural, Elohim, the verb created is given in the masculine singular form. This God of the Bible, the Creator of all things, is one; but the One is also three Persons—three, but also one. What would seem to be a grammatical mistake is actually a statement of profound Trinitarian truth.

The Bible shines a spotlight on a royal wedding in Psalm 45. It is thought that perhaps this psalm was written as a celebration of the wedding of King Solomon. But the psalm rises far above any earthly wedding. The Messianic implications of this psalm are not merely the suppositions of Bible scholars. The Word of God, in Hebrews 1:8, verifies that this royal wedding psalm was written concerning the Son of God.

One of the central doctrines of orthodox Christianity is the Trinity. The Godhead is three in person. The Godhead is one in essence. It is important to recognize that in making the statement, “I and my Father are one,” Jesus was not denying the Trinity, nor giving credence at all to the twin heresies of unitarianism or modalism.

The world has tried in vain to establish a one-world government. The prophet Zechariah declared, “And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one” (Zechariah 14:9). Unity is an attribute of God. He is one, and His name is One. Thus, it follows that God brings unity to all that He governs.

The Hebrew word Elohim, generally translated “God” in the Bible, is plural in its grammatical number. This plurality reflects the divine Trinity—that one God exists in three Persons. In Genesis 1:26, the plural number is used when Elohim spoke: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

“God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for our food. Amen.” This simple prayer is the first one that many children are taught to say in their formative years. Some may casually dismiss this prayer as trite and obvious, but the profound Biblical truth that it contains should be firmly rooted in the heart of every child of God. Over and over in the Book of Psalms, we read a statement of praise that ascribes the quality of goodness to Jehovah.