The pastor of my local church was recently arrested on charges of public drunkeness and disorderly conduct. Do you believe me? Why?
Knowing who someone is - their character or nature - is very helpful in understanding their actions, and discerning truth from falsehood. In the case of Pastor Wayne Krell, knowing his character and nature would help in realizing that my earlier statement about his behavior was a blatent lie. The man may well be insane, and certainly has no discernment when it comes to his football loyalties, but he's no drunk!
Knowing who someone is also helps in our relationship with that person, especially when that person is God. When we're in pain, we might ask God why He is allowing it, or why He doesn't make it stop. Knowing His character can help us - if not answering all our questions, at least helping us to stop asking some of them. Knowing Him helps us to trust Him.
It also gives us a framework within which to think about God, how and why He made us, what He expects from us, and other theological questions. It is, in my opinion, dangerous to form theological beliefs without first understanding as thoroughly as possible God's nature, His abilities, and His heart.
With this in mind, I would like to discuss a small passage in the Bible which begins to describe who God is, and what He is really like. The passage is Exodus 34:5-7.
'Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation."'
In this brief passage, we find a good basis upon which to build our understanding of who God is, and what He is like. Listed are seven attributes of God, declare of Himself by Himself, so we can be quite sure of their truth. These attributes are 1) compassionate, 2) gracious, 3) slow to anger, 4) abounding in love, 5) abounding in faithfulness, and 6) just. Let's take the time to examine each of these, and so get a better knowledge of our Lord's heart.
1) Compassionate: to be merciful, loving. Having the knowledge of another's pain and having the desire to alleviate it. God knows our pain and knows it's source. He knows that our pain comes from our own disobedience, and the disobedience of our anscestors. He know our sin, and it's consequences. Even though He knows our pain is justly ours, He does not take pleasure in it. He is a good Father: knowing that we must bear the consequences of our actions for our own good and for the sake of justice, but still wishing that it didn't have to happen. For example, examine Genesis 4:10-16. 'Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man." Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?" The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth." Cain said to the LORD , "My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me." But the LORD said to him, "Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. So Cain went out from the LORD's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.'
Cain deserved death. It would have been just to have taken his life, and certainly God was under no obligation to make any special arrangements on Cain's behalf. But the love that God has for us is so great that He is willing to go to extremes to help us. John 3:16 says that He loved the world so much as to die for it. Certainly Cain was deserving of death, but God had compassion for him. God then showed the second attribute we are discussing -
2) gracious, meaning displaying unmeritted favor. This is the active part of compassion. As with Cain, God does whatever can be done for us. In Cain's case, God put a mark upon him to prevent his death. He didn't deserve it - he deserved the death he thought would soon come - but God gave out of the fullness of his heart. This is graciousness - the ability to give for the sake of giving, rather than the worth of receiver.
3) Slow to anger, patient. Judges 2:11; 3:7, 12, 4:1; 6:1; 8:33; 10:6; 13:1. Eight times in one book, not to mention numerous times previously in the desert, and continuing throughout the long tragic history of Israel, the people turned away from their God. How many times over did they deserve to be utterly destroyed, and yet God patiently bore their continued rebellion, not withoput chastizing them, but certainly with giving them all the judgement they had earned. From one generation to the next, God continues to show mercy to a people who seem determined to ignore it.
4) Love. Why did and does our Father even bother with Israel? Why does He continue to help and guide us? He needs nothing, and we have nothing to give. So why the compassion? Why the mercy? Read Isaiah 43:1-4;
'But now, this is what the LORD says- he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD , your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life.'
God loves us. Certainly not for any goodness or merit in ourselves, but simply because He has chosen to do so. And His love for us goes to extremes, even to the extreme of sending the Son to die on our behalf. His love is the source of every blessing we have, from the air we breathe in this world, to the life we'll live in the next.
5) Faithfulness. Because of promises made to Abraham, Noah and David, many benefits have come to mankind through the ages. For God does not change, and He does not lie - He is faithful, and carries out His word. Once a promise has been made, we can be assured that, sooner or later, it will come to pass. Abraham was promised that he would be the father of nations. Noah (and the whole world) was promised that never again would the world be destroyed by flood. David was promised that the throne would be his and his sons forever, which is finally and completely fulfilled in Jesus Christ the Lord and King, not just of Israel, but of all. Because of God's faithfullness, we can be assured that we have every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3), that He will work everything to our good (Romans 8:28), and that his reign will be established forevermore (Revelation 22:20). When we doubt, we cannot blame God, for He always is faithful. The responsability for faithlessness always lies with us.
6) Just. God will not fail to bring about punishment for the sins of men - an accounting must be made. Any sin places an infinitely wide gulf between God and the sinner, which cannot be ignored and will not be superceded, save by the means provided by Christ Jesus at Calvary. God does forgive sin, but the accounting for that sin must take place, and has taken place. For those that refuse to take this one bridge, no other means of coming to the Father is given - they are eternally doomed.
As negative a message as that sounds, it has a positive side. How often we yearn for justice to be done (often forgetting where we would be if it had been done to us)! We struggle against temptations to avenge, to bring to accounts those that do evil. But God doesn't forget. Nothing escapes Him, and He will see that justice is done. No sin will go unpunished. We can rely on Him to see that, sooner or later, the scales of justice will balance.
This is, of course, just a beginning. Knowing God is an immense task, one which we will never fully complete - how can the finite conceive of the infinite? It is however, a wonderful place to start. If we can meditate upon these few attributes of God, identifying them when we see them in scripture, in our lives, and in the lives of others, we will draw nearer to Him as we recognize His hand at work and learn to trust Him. It will form a framework for our thoughts of Him, helping dispel much nonsense which, if we know Him, seems sheer blasphemy, and if we don't, appears orthodox.
That is indeed one of the errors the Jews fell into by the time of our Lord's advent. The word of God was indeed known and heeded, but God himself seemed to be absent. Knowledge of Him was scarce, and often not to be found where seekers sought for it. And when Christ, the Son of God Himself came, the world, especially the preists of the orthodoxy of the time, knew Him not. For all their knowledge OF God, they knew God Himself not at all. We dare not make the same mistake. We must know Him, for all else is vanity. No religious appearance of piety will receive any reward from the Hand of God, but only a longing to know Him, to draw closer to Him, to indeed be filled with Him. We must join with Him, seeking every day to remove anything that stands in the path of our fullest unity with His will, seeking ever to live the life of Christ, as we will if we indeed know Him. Seek first to know Him. Then all else shall be added.
