Arthur W. Pink
The Godhead of God
The Godhood of God
Typed by: Kathy Sewell, ksewell@gate.net, May 08, 1997
This electronic text is in public domain
THE GODHOOD OF GOD
A. W. Pink
The Godhood of God! What is meant by this
expression? Ah, sad it is that such a question needs to be asked and answered.
And yet it does: for a generation has arisen that is well nigh universally
ignorant of the important truth which this term connotes. That which is
popular today in the colleges, in the pulpits, and in the press, is the
dignity, the power, and the attainments of man. But this is only the
corrupt fruit that has issued from the Evolutionary teachings of fifty years
ago. When Christian theologians (?) accepted the Darwinian hypothesis, which
excluded God from the realm of Creation, it was only to be expected that
more and more God would be banished from the realm of human affairs.
Thus it has proven. To the twentieth-century mind God is little more than an
abstraction, an impersonal "First Cause," or if a Being at all, One far removed
from this world and having little or nothing to do with mundane affairs. Man,
forsooth, is a "god" unto himself. He is a "free agent" and therefore the
regulator of his own life and the determiner of his own destiny. Such was the
Devil's lie at the beginning - "Ye shall be as God" (Gen. 3:5). But from human
speculation and Satanic insinuation we turn to Divine revelation.
The Godhood of God! What is meant by the
expression? This: the omnipotency of God, the absolute sovereignty of God.
When we speak of the Godhood of God we affirm that God is God. We affirm that
God is something more than an empty title: that God is something more than a
mere figure-head: that God is something more than a far-distant Spectator,
looking helplessly on at the suffering which sin has wrought. When we speak of
the Godhood of God we affirm that He is "King of kings and Lord of
lords." We affirm that God is something more than a disappointed,
dis-satisfied, defeated Being, who is filled with benevolent desires but
lacking in power to carry them out. When we speak of the Godhood of God we
affirm that He is "the Most High." We affirm that God is something more than
One who has endowed man with the power of choice, and because He has done this
is therefore unable to compel man to do His bidding. We affirm
that God is something more than One who has waged a protracted war with the
Devil and has been worsted. When we speak of the Godhood of God we
affirm that He is the Almighty.
To speak of the Godhood of God then, is to say
that God is on the Throne, on the Throne as a fact and not as a
say so; on a Throne that is high above all. To speak of the Godhood of God is
to say that the Helm is in His hand, and that He is steering according
to His own good pleasure. To speak of the Godhood of God is to say that He is
the Potter, that we are the clay, and that out of the clay He shapes one
as a vessel to honor and another as a vessel to dishonor according to His own
sovereign rights. To speak of the Divine Despot doing "according to His
will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and
none can stay His hand, or say unto Him what doest Thou?" (Dan. 4:35).
Therefore, to speak of the Godhood of God is to give the mighty Creator His
rightful place; it is to recognize His exalted majesty; it is to own His
universal scepter.
The Godhood of God stands at the base of
Divine revelation: "in the beginning God" - in solemn majesty, eternal,
un-caused, self-sufficient. This is the foundation doctrine, and upon
it all other doctrines must be built, and any other doctrine which is
not built upon it will inevitably fail and fall in the day of testing. At the
beginning of all true theology lies the postulate that God is God - absolute
and irresistible. It must be so. Without this we face a closed door: with it
we have a key which unlocks every mystery. This is true of Creation;
exclude an Almighty God and nothing is left but blind and illogical
materialism. This is true of Revelation: the Bible is the solitary
miracle in the realm of literature; exclude God from it and you have a miracle
and no miracle-Worker to produce it. This is true of Salvation.
Salvation is "of the Lord," entirely so; exclude God from any aspect or part of
salvation, and salvation vanishes. This is true of History, for history
is His story: it is the outworking in time of His eternal purpose;
exclude God from history and all is meaningless and purposeless. The absolute
Godhood of God is the only guaranty that in the end it shall be fully
and finally demonstrated that God is "All in all" (1 Cor. 15:28).
"In the beginning God." This is not only
the first word of Holy Scripture but it must be the firm axiom of all true
philosophy - the philosophy of human history, for example. Instead of beginning
with man and his world and attempting to reason back to God, we must begin with
God and reason forward to man and his world. It is failure to do this which
leaves unsolved the "riddle of the universe." Begin with the world as it is
today and try to reason back to God, and what is the result? If you are honest
of heart and logical of mind, this - that God has little or nothing at all to
do with the world. But begin with God and reason forward to the world as it is
today and much light is cast on the problem. Because God is holy, His
anger burns against sin. Because God is righteous, His judgments fall
on those who rebel against Him. Because God is faithful, the solemn
threatenings of His Word are being fulfilled. Because God is
omnipotent, no problem can master Him, no enemy defeat Him, and no
purpose of His can be withstood. It is just because God is who He is and what
He is that we now behold what we do - the gathering clouds of the storm of
Divine wrath which will shortly burst upon the earth.
"For of Him, and through Him and to Him, are
all things" (Rom. 11:36). In the beginning - God. In the
center - God. At the end - God. But as soon as this is insisted
upon men will stand up and tell you what they think about God. They
will prate about God working consistently with His own character, as though a
worm of the earth was capable of determining what was consistent and what was
inconsistent with the Divine perfections. People will say with an air of
profound wisdom that God must deal justly with His creatures, which is true, of
course, but who is able to define Divine justice, or any other of God's
attributes? The truth is that man is utterly incompetent for forming a
proper estimate of God's character and ways, and it is because of this that God
has given us a revelation of His mind, and in that revelation He plainly
declares, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my
ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My
ways higher then your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts" (Is. 55:8,9).
In view of such a scripture as this it is only to be expected that much of the
contents of the Bible conflicts with the sentiments of the carnal mind
which is "enmity against God." And further: in view of such a Scripture
as the above we need not be surprised that much of human history is so
perplexing to our understandings.
The natural world, to begin with the simplest,
presents sufficient problems to humble man, were it not that he was blinded by
pride. Why should there be diseases and remedies for them? Why poisons and
their antidotes? Why rats and mice, and cats to kill them? Why not have left
un-made the evils, and then no necessity for the instruments to remove them!
Ah, why are we so slow to learn that God's ways are different from ours? And
when we enter the human realm the mystery deepens. What is man placed here for
at all? To learn some lesson or lessons or to undergo some test or experience
which he could not learn or undergo elsewhere? If so, then why is such a large
proportion of the race removed in infancy, before such lessons can be learned
and such experiences be gained? Why indeed! Such questions as these might be
multiplied indefinitely, but sufficient has been said to point out the manifest
limitations of human wisdom. And if we are confronted with insolvable
problems in the domain of nature and of human existence, what of the
Divine realm! Who can fathom the ways of the Almighty? Canst thou by
searching find out God? No indeed. "Clouds and darkness are round about Him"
(Ps. 97:2). If God were not a mystery He would not be God to us.
But why write in this strain? Surely the need of
our day is for that which will strengthen faith, not that which paralyzes it.
True; but what is faith? we mean faith in the abstract. Faith is, essentially,
an attitude rather than an act: it is that which lies behind the act. Faith is
an attitude of dependency, of recognized weakness. Faith is a coming to the end
of ourselves and looking outside of ourselves - away from ourselves.
Faith is that which gives God His proper place. And if we give
God His proper place, we must take our proper place, and that is in the dust.
And what is there that will bring the haughty, self-sufficient creature into
the dust so quickly as a sight of the Godhead of God! Nothing is so humbling
to the human heart as a true recognition of the absolute sovereignty of God.
So then, instead of seeking to weaken faith, we write to promote and strengthen
it. The chief trouble is that so much that passes for faith today is really
only maudlin sentimentality. The faith of Christendom in this twentieth
century is mere credulity, and the "god" of many of our churches is not the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, but a mere figment of the imagination. Modern
theology has invented a "god" which the infinite mind can understand, whose
ways are pleasing to the natural man, a "god" who is altogether "such a one as"
(Ps. 50:21) those who profess to worship him, a "god" concerning whom there is
little or no mystery. But how different the God which the Holy Scriptures
reveal! Of Him it is said, His ways are "past finding out" (Rom.
11:33). To particularize:
1. The "god" of the moderns is altogether lacking
in power. The popular idea of today is that deity is filled with amiable
intentions but that Satan is preventing the making good of them. It is
not God's will, so we are told, that there should be any wars, for wars are
something which men are unable to reconcile with their ideas of Divine
mercy. Hence, the conclusion is, that all wars are of the Devil. Plagues and
earthquakes, famines and tornadoes, are not sent from God, but are attributed
solely to natural causes. To affirm that the Lord God sent the recent
Influenza epidemic as a judgment scourge, would be to shock the sensibilities
of the modern mind. All such things as this are a cause of grief to
"god" for "he" desires nought but the happiness of everybody.
2. The "god" of the moderns is altogether lacking
in wisdom. The popular belief is that God loves everybody, and that it
is His will that every child of Adam should be saved. But if this be true, He
is strongly lacking in wisdom, for He knows quite well that under existing
conditions the majority will be lost. If He is really desirous that every
creature should have an equal chance to be saved, then why suffer so many to be
born into families (of criminal parents, for example) and be brought up under
conditions where they will never hear the Gospel - and there are many thousands
such in this country. If it should be said in reply God has not created these
criminal conditions, the point is readily ceded, but nevertheless God is
responsible for sending children into them, for the fruit of the womb is solely
in His hands. Why not produce sterility among criminals, if it is contrary to
His will for children to be born into such conditions, conditions which
frequently preclude all reading of the Scriptures and all hearing the
Gospel.
3. The "god" of the moderns is lacking in
holiness. That crime deserves punishment is still allowed in
part, though more and more the belief is gaining ground that the criminal is
really an object of pity rather than censure, and that he stands in need of
education and reformation rather than of punishment. But that SIN - sins of
thought as well as deed, sins of the heart as well as life, sins of omission as
well as commission, the sinful root itself as well as the fruit - should be
hated by God, that His body nature burns against it, is a concept that
has gone almost entirely out of fashion; and that the sinner himself is
hated by God is indignantly denied even among those who boast most
loudly of their orthodoxy.
4. The "god" of the moderns is altogether lacking
in a sovereign prerogative. Whatever rights the deity of
present-day Christendom may be supposed to possess in theory, in fact they must
be subordinated to the "rights" of the creature. It is denied, almost
universally, that the rights of the Creator over His creatures is that of the
Potter over the clay. When it is affirmed that God has the right to make one as
a vessel unto honor, and another as a vessel unto dishonor, the cry of
injustice is instantly raised. When it is affirmed that salvation is a
gift and that this gift is bestowed on whom God pleases, it is said He
is partial and unfair. If God has any gifts to impart, He must
distribute them evenly, or else bestow them on those that merit them,
whoever they may be. And thus God is allowed less freedom than I, who may
disburse my charity as I best please, giving to one beggar a quarter, to
another a dime, and to a third nothing at all if I think well.
How different is the God of the Bible from the
"god" of the moderns!! The God of Scripture is all-mighty. He is one
who speaks and it is done, who commands and it stands fast. He is the One with
whom "all things are possible" and "who worketh all things after the counsel of
His own will" (Eph. 1:11). He is the One "who hath measured the waters
in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended
the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and
the hills in a balance" (Is. 40:12). He is the One with whom "the nations are
as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance," with
Whom "all nations before Him are as nothing and they are counted to Him less
than nothing, and vanity" (Is. 40:15,17). He is One that "sitteth upon the
circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that
spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in; that bringeth the princes to nothing;
He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity" (Is. 40:22,23). He is the One who
declares, "Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, and He that formed thee from the
womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretched forth the heavens
alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by Myself. That frustrateth the tokens
of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and
maketh their knowledge foolish. That confirmeth the word of His servant, and
performeth the counsel of His messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt
be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise
up the decayed places thereof. That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry
up thy rivers: That saith of Cyrus (a heathen idolater) he is My shepherd, and
shall perform all My pleasure" (Is. 44:24-28). Such is the God of the
Bible, the God who throws out the challenge, "To whom then will ye liken God,
or what likeness will ye compare unto Him?" (Is. 40:18). And as though that
were not enough, in the same chapter He asks again, "To whom then will ye liken
Me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and
behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number:
He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is
strong in power, not one faileth...Hast thou not known? has thou not heard,
that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth,
fainteth not, neither is weary?" (Is. 40:25,26,28).
The God of Scripture is infinite in
wisdom. No secret can be hidden from Him, no problem can baffle Him,
nothing is too hard for Him. God is omniscient - "Great is our Lord, and
of great power: His understanding is infinite" (Ps. 147:5). Therefore is
it said, "There is no searching of His understanding" (Is. 40:28). Hence it is,
that in a revelation from Him we expect to find truths which transcend the
reach of the creature's mind, and therefore the presumptuous folly and
wickedness of those who are but "dust and ashes" undertaking to pronounce upon
the reasonableness or unreasonableness of doctrines which are above
their reason, and of speculating upon things that are a matter of pure
revelation. Instead of coming to the Scriptures to be taught thereof, men first
fill their minds with objections, and then instead of interpreting the
Divine Oracles according to their obvious meaning, they submit and twist them
according to the dictates of their own finite reason. Surely if we are
unable to comprehend the mode of God's existence, because it is
infinitely above us, then for the same reason we are unable to comprehend the
counsels of infinite wisdom. Such is the explicit assertion of Holy Writ
itself - "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God;
for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. 2:14).
The God of Scripture is infinite in
Holiness. The "only true God" is He who hates sin with a perfect
abhorrence and whose nature eternally burns against it. He is the One who
beheld the wickedness of the antediluvians and who opened the windows of Heaven
and poured down the flood of His righteous indignation. He is the One who
rained fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah and utterly destroyed these
cities of the plain. He is the One who sent the plagues upon Egypt, and
destroyed her haughty monarch together with his hosts at the Red Sea. He is the
One who caused the earth to open its mouth and swallow alive Korah and his
rebellious company. Yes, He is the One who "spared not His own Son" when He was
"made sin for us...that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." So
holy is God and such is the antagonism of His nature against evil, that for one
sin He banished our first parents from Eden; for one sin He cursed the
posterity of Ham; for one sin He turned Lot's wife into a pillar of salt; for
one sin He sent out fire and devoured the sons of Aaron; for one sin Moses died
in the wilderness; for one sin Achan and his family were all stoned to death;
for one sin the servant of Elisha was smitten with leprosy. Behold therefore,
not only the goodness, but also "the severity of God" (Rom. 11:22). And
this is the God that every Christ-rejector has yet to meet in judgment!
The God of Scripture has a will that is
irresistible. Man talks and boasts of his will, but God also has
a will! Men had a will on the plains of Shinar and undertook to build a tower
whose top should reach unto heaven; but what came of it? God had a will, too,
and their willful effort came to naught. Pharaoh had a will when he
hardened his heart and refused to allow Jehovah's people to go into the
wilderness and there worship Him, but what came of it? God had a will, too, and
being Almighty His will was performed. Balak had a will when he hired
Balaam to come and curse the Hebrews; but of what avail was it? The Canaanites
had a will when they determined to prevent Israel occupying the promised land;
but how far did they succeed? Saul had a will when he hurled his javelin at
David, but instead of slaying the Lord's anointed, it entered the wall instead.
Jonah had a will when he refused to go and preach to the Ninevites; but what
came of it? Nebuchadnezzar had a will when he thought to destroy the three
Hebrews; but God had a will too, and so the fire did not harm them. Herod had a
will when he purposed to slay the Child Jesus, and had there been no living and
reigning God, his evil desires had been effected; but in daring to pit his puny
will against the irresistible will of the Almighty, his efforts came to naught.
Yes, my reader, and you had a will when you formed your plans without
first seeking counsel of the Lord, and therefore did He overthrow them.
As well might a worm seek to resist the tread of an elephant; as well might a
babe step between the railroad tracks and attempt to push back the express
train; as well might a child seek to prevent the ocean from rolling, as for a
creature to try and resist the outworking of the purpose of the Lord God - "O
Lord God of our fathers, art not Thou God in heaven? and rulest not Thou over
all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in Thine hand is there not power and
might, so that none is able to withstand thee?" (2 Chron. 20:6).
The God of Scripture is absolute
Sovereign. Such is His own claim: "This is the purpose that is purposed
upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the
nations. For the Lord of hosts hast purposed, and who shall disannul it?
and His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?" (Is. 14:26,27).
The Sovereignty of God is absolute and irresistible: "All the inhabitants of
the earth are reputed as nothing: and He doeth according to His will in the
army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can
stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?" (Dan. 4:35). The Sovereignty
of God is true not only hypothetically, but in fact. That is to say, God
exercises His sovereignty, exercises it both in the natural realm, and
in the spiritual. One is born black, another white. One is born in wealth,
another in poverty. One is born with a healthy body, another sickly and
crippled. One is cut off in childhood, another lives to old age. One is endowed
with five talents, another with but one. And in all these cases it is God the
Creator who maketh one to differ from another, and "none can stay His hand." So
also is it in the spiritual realm. One is born in a pious home and is brought
up in the fear and abomination of the Lord; another is born of criminal parents
and is reared in vice. One is the object of many prayers, the other is not
prayed for at all. One hears the Gospel from early childhood, another never
hears it. One sits under a Scriptural ministry, another hears nothing but error
and heresy. Of those who do hear the Gospel, one has his heart opened by the
Lord to receive the truth, while another is left to himself. One is "ordained
to eternal life" (Acts 13:48), while another is "ordained to condemnation (Jude
4). To whom He will God shows mercy, and whom he wills He "hardens" (Rom.
9:18). To particularize:
With whom took He counsel in creation?
Whom did He consult when He determined the various and manifold arrangements,
adjustments, adaptations, relationships, equipments of His myriad creatures?
Did He not do everything after the counsel of His own will? Did He not
decide that birds should fly in the air, beasts roam the earth, and fishes live
in the sea? Did He not decide there should be one vast gradation among the
creatures of His hand, instead of making everything equal and uniform? Did He
not determine to make a revolving world on the one hand, and a floating atom on
the other? Did He not determine to create the exalted seraphim to stand before
His throne throughout endless ages, and also to make another creature which
dies the same hour it is born?" Was He not undisputed Sovereign in all His
creative acts? Yea, verily, for the Three Persons of the Godhead were all alone
in their solitary majesty. Why should God take counsel? Could man add to
His knowledge, or correct His errors? God sovereignly assigned His
myriad creatures their various habitations, members, movements, as it pleased
Him. God never consulted man about a single member of His body, or about its
size, color, or capacity; instead, "God set the members everyone of them in the
body, as it hath pleased Him" (1 Cor. 12:18). Man is as truly the
product of Sovereign creation as any other of God's creatures - sovereign, we
say, not arbitrary.
God not only created everything, but
everything which He created is subject to His immediate control. God
rules over the works of His hands. God governs the creatures He
has made. God reigns with universal dominion. When He pleased,
the sun and moon stood still (Josh. 10:12,13); and at a word from Him the sun
went backward ten degrees on the dial of Ahaz (Is. 38:8). At His command
the Red Sea ceased to flow, and at His command it resumed its normal course
(Ex. 14). In response to the prayer of Elisha, He made iron to float on the top
of the water (2 Kings 6:5). Yes, when He pleases, He reverses the order
of nature, as when the fires of Nebuchadnezzar's furnace burnt not, as when the
hungry lions touched not Daniel, as when the ravens, which are birds of prey,
were made to minister of Elijah. At a word from Him who made it, a fish carried
a coin to Peter, a tree withers suddenly (Matt. 21:4), the raging tempest
becomes a calm.
So it is also with men; they, too, are ruled by
God; ruled by and unseen Hand; often, unknown to themselves. Little did
they know it, yet nevertheless, the sons of Jacob were but performing
the pleasure of Jehovah when they sold Joseph into the hands of the Ishmaelites
who carried him down into Egypt. Little was she aware of it, but when Pharaoh's
daughter went to the Nile to bathe, she was being directed by God, directed
there to rescue from the waters the babe Moses. Little did he know it, but in
issuing the decree that all the world should be taxed (Luke 2:1) Caesar
Augustus was but setting in motion a movement which caused the word and decree
of God to be fulfilled. Yes, even "The King's heart is in the hand of
the Lord, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will" (Pro.
21:1). And so it is with Satan himself. He, too, is the (unwitting and
unwilling) servant of God. He could not touch Job without first gaining
Divine permission. He could not sift the apostles till he gained consent from
Christ. At a word from the Lord Jesus Satan "left" Him (Matt. 4:10,11). Of him,
also, God has said, Thus far shalt thou go and no farther.
Even death, the "king of terrors," that
which no arts of man can defy, is absolutely subject to the bidding of the
Lord. In his sermon on Ps. 68:20,21 - "unto God the Lord belong the issues from
death" - the late C. H. Spurgeon well said, "The prerogative of life or death
belongs to God in a wide range of senses. First of all as to natural life, we
are all dependent upon His good pleasure. We shall not die until the time which
He appoints: for our death-time, like all our time, is in His hands. Our skirts
may brush away the portals of the sepulchre, and yet we shall pass the iron
gate unharmed if the Lord be our guard. The wolves of disease will hurt us in
vain until God shall permit them to overtake us. The most desperate enemies may
waylay us, but no bullet shall find its billet in any heart unless the Lord
allows it. Our life does not even depend upon the care of angels, nor can our
death be compassed by the malice of devils. We are immortal till our work is
done, immortal till the immortal King shall call us home to the land where we
shall be immortal in a still higher sense. When we are most sick, we need not
despair of recovery, since the issues from death are in Almighty hands. "The
Lord killeth and maketh alive: He bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up!"
When we have passed beyond the skill of the physician we have not passed beyond
the succour of our God, to whom belong the issues from death."
What part or lot did man have in the
composition of the Bible? None whatever. Its very words are the words of God.
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God." No part of it was of human
origination, "for the prophecy came not at any time by the will of man" (2 Pet.
1:21). Did not holy men of God speak "moved by the Holy Spirit"? And how did
they then record what the Holy Spirit communicated to them - in words of man's
selecting? Nay verily, "not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which
the Holy Spirit teacheth" (1 Cor. 2:13). Balaam longed to speak otherwise than
he did; but he could not. Caiaphas prophesied "not of himself" (John 11:51).
Pilate was asked to make a change in the one sentence which God moved him to
write, but he declared "What I have written I have written" (John 19:22). God
acted sovereignly in the writing of the Scriptures as in everything else. The
very words were chosen by Him; and did He not sovereignly choose? Did He
take counsel with either angels or men as to the words He should select for the
communicating of His thoughts? No indeed.
God's absolute and irresistible proprietorship
has been and is being displayed in the spiritual realm as manifestly as
in the natural. Isaac is blessed, but Ishmael is cursed. Jacob is loved, but
Esau is hated. Israel becomes God's favored people, while all other nations are
suffered to remain in idolatry. Jesse's seven sons were all passed by, and
David the shepherd-boy was found to be the one after God's own heart. The
Saviour took on Him the "seed of Abraham" (Heb. 2:16), not the seed of Adam.
His ministry was not worldward, but confined to the people chosen of God. The
proud Pharisees were rejected, while publicans and harlots were sweetly
compelled by sovereign grace to sit down at the Gospel feast. The rich young
ruler, who from his youth up, had kept the commandments, was allowed to go away
from Christ "sorrowing," even though he had sought Him with real earnestness
and humility, while the fallen Samaritan woman (John 4) who sought Him not is
made to rejoice in the forgiveness of her sins. Two thieves hung by Christ on
the cross; they were equally guilty, equally needy, equally near to Him. One of
them is moved to cry: "Lord, remember me" and is taken to Paradise, while the
other is suffered to die in his sins and sink down into a hopeless eternity.
Many are called, but few are chosen.
Yes, Salvation is God's sovereign work.
"God does not save a man because he is a sinner, for if so He must save all
men, for all are sinners. Nor because he comes to Christ, for `no man can come
except the Father draw him;' nor because he repents, for `God gives repentance
unto life;' nor because he believes,' for no one can believe `except it were
given him from above;' nor yet because he holds out faithful to the end, for
`we are kept by the power of God.' It is not because of baptism, for many are
saved without it, and many are lost with it. It is not because of regeneration,
for that would make the new birth a practical duty. It is not because of
morality, for the moralist is the hardeth to reach, and many of the most
immoral are saved - the ground of distinguishing grace is the Sovereignty of
God: `Even so Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight'" (J. B. Moody).
But is God partial? We answer, Has He not
a right to be? Again we quote from Mr. Spurgeon's sermon "The Royal
Prerogative" -"Spiritually, too, this prerogative is with God. We are by nature
under the condemnation of the law on account of our sins, and we are like
criminals tried, convicted, sentenced, and left for death. It is for God, as
the great Judge, to see the sentence executed, or to issue a free pardon,
according as He pleases; and He will have us know that it is upon
His supreme pleasure that this matter depends. Over the head of a
universe of sinners, I hear this sentence thundering. "I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have
compassion." Shut up for death, as men are by reason of their sins, it rests
with God to pardon whom He may reserve: none have any claim to His favour, and
it must be exercised upon mere prerogative, because He is the Lord God,
merciful and gracious, and delighteth to pass by transgression and sin." How
far away have the present-day admirers of Spurgeon departed from the teaching
of this prince of preachers: Mark carefully the next sentences: "Our text,
however, puts the prerogative upon the one sole ground of Lordship, and
we prefer to come back to that. `Unto God the Lord belong the issues
from death.' It is a doctrine which is very unpalatable in these days (it
always has been. - A.W.P.), but one nevertheless which is to be held and
taught, that God is an absolute Sovereign, and doeth as He wills. The
words of Paul may not be suffered to sleep, - "Nay, but O man, who art thou
that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it,
why hast Thou made me thus?" The Lord cannot do amiss, His perfect nature is a
law unto itself. In his case Rex is Lex, the King is the Law."
Is God partial? Certainly He is. And has He not
the right to be? Shall He not dispense His favours as He wills, and bestow His
gifts on whom He pleases? But it is reasonable to suppose that God who is Love
has created millions of creatures to be lost? seeing that His elect constitute
but a "remnant." a "few," in comparison with the great multitudes who die
unsaved? We reply, it is not a question of reason but of revelation.
There are many things revealed in Scripture which are contrary to
reason. Is it reasonable to think that God would give His only begotten
Son to die for sinners? Ah, reason is ruled out entirely here. And so in many
other things. If it lay within the power of the reader, would you suffer your
worst enemy to be eternally tormented? And if you are honest, you will promptly
answer, No! But God will deal thus with His enemies, and the sentence will be a
righteous one, whether we can now discern its justice or not, for the
Judge of all the earth will do right. How far asunder then is carnal
reasoning from the teaching of Holy Writ concerning Eternal Punishment! Once
more: would the reader "laugh at" and "mock" his worst enemy if that enemy was
being severely punished before him and was entirely helpless to deliver himself
from that punishment? Yet Scripture explicitly declares that God will
"laugh" at the calamity of His enemies and "mock" when their fear cometh
(see Ps. 2:4; Prov. 1:26). Can your reason harmonize this with your knowledge
of God? And again we say, If you are honest you must reply, No! Then why prate
so loudly and blatantly about the unreasonableness of Reprobation and of God's
absolute Sovereignty in salvation? Once more: here is Satan, the age-long enemy
of God and many, the one who has wrought incalculable evil, securely imprisoned
at last in the bottomless pit. There he remains chained for a thousand years.
Now would you, my reader, suggest for a moment that the Devil be released from
that prison after the earth had been freed for a thousand years from his vile
presence? Certainly you would not, and yet this is precisely what Divine
revelation declares shall come to pass. The Scriptures of Truth make known how
that God will cause the Serpent to be "loosed" for a little season, that God
will suffer this even though He knows beforehand that the consequences will be
the most dreadful revolt on the part of men, under Satan, revolt against God,
which this earth has ever witnessed. Truly God's ways are different, very
different from ours. Learn then the utter folly of man attempting to pronounce
upon the reasonableness or unreasonableness of the doings and dealings of the
Most High God. And now a few words by way of exhortation and we must
conclude.
One of the most flagrant sins of this age is
irreverence. By irreverence I am not now thinking of open blasphemy, or the
taking of God's name in vain. Irreverence is, also, failure to ascribe the
glory which is due the great and dreadful majesty of the Almighty. It is the
limiting of His power and actions by our degrading conceptions: it is the
bringing of the Lord God down to our level. There are multitudes of
those who do not profess to be Christians who deny that God is the omnipotent
Creator, and there are multitudes of professing Christians who deny that God is
absolute Sovereign. Men boast of their free will, prate of their power,
and are proud of their achievements. They know not that their lives are at the
sovereign disposal of the Divine Despot. They know not that they have no more
power to thwart His secret counsel than a worm has to resist the tread of an
elephant. They know not that God is the Potter, and they the clay.
Ah, my reader, this is the first great lesson we
have to learn: that God is the Creator, we the creature; that He is the Potter,
we the clay. This is the harvest of all life's lessons, and when we think we
have learnt them, we soon discover that we have need to re-learn them.
God is God and has the right to dispose of me as He sees fit. It is for
Him to say where I shall live - whether in America or Africa. It is for
Him to say under what circumstances I shall live - whether amid riches
or poverty, whether in health or in sickness. It is for Him to say how
long I shall live - whether I shall be cut down in youth, like the flower
of the field, or whether I shall live unto old age. Yes, and it is for Him to
say where I shall spend eternity.
The first sin of man was the refusal to be clay
in the Potter's hand; Adam wanted to be something more - "Ye shall be as
God's was the bait which the Tempter used to hurl him to his
destruction.
One of the profoundest mysteries of the
Incarnation is that "the mighty God" descended from highest heaven and took
upon Him the nature of the creature and came down here to show us how to
wear it. That which differentiated the Life of Christ from all other lives,
was His absolute and joyous submission to the Father's will - "My meat is to do
the will of Him that sent Me" struck the keynote of the thirty-three years that
He tabernacled among men. Have you profited by the example left us by
the Beloved of the Father? Has Divine grace shown you how to wear your creature
nature? Only if you live not in self-assertion, but in self-renunciation. Only
if in the school of Christ you have been taught to say, "Not my will, but Thine
be done." O may Divine grace so subdue our rebellious hearts that more and more
we can say:
"I
bow me to Thy will, O God,
And
all Thy ways
adore!
And
every day I live I'd seek
To
please Thee more and
more.
Thy
will, the good, the blessed rule
Of
Jesus' toil and
tears:
Thy
will the passion of His heart
Those
three and thirty
years.
I
love to kiss each print where Christ
Did
set His pilgrim
feet:
Nor
can I fear that blessed path,
Whose
traces are so
sweet.
When
obstacles and trials seem
Like
prison walls to
be,
I
do the little I can do,
And
leave the rest to
Thee.
I
know not what it is to doubt,
My
heart is ever
gay;
I
run no risk, for, come what will,
Thou
always hast Thy
way."