God Loves… Himself

As set out earlier, eternity is the infinity of God in relation to time. It is an attempt to set out that God does not have a beginning and will never have an end. The meaning of eternity and its being a necessary teaching for certain doctrines should bring thinking and loving human beings to worship.

The meaning for the doctrine of God is clear. Unless God is eternal, then He is not self-existent and some set of circumstances brought Him into being or some powerful being created Him. This teaching is utterly necessary for the biblical teaching of the character of God. This teaching is also necessary when we think of the true meaning of creation within the universe. God had to exist before the universe came into being or He would not be the One that created all that we know. So eternity is a necessary attribute of God for Him to be the Creator of all things.

Eternity is also a necessary teaching concerning the doctrine of Christ. In the Gospel of John 1:1-5 we see the clear declaration that Christ was the Word and that He was the Word from before the beginning. We also see that all things came into being through Him and nothing has come into being that did not come into being through Christ (1:3). The obvious implication of this is that Christ is an eternal being that never came into being. The eternal nature of God is necessary to the eternal nature of Christ and of His eternal kingdom.

Is Christ just a created being? If so, how could He satisfy the wrath of God for all those that will be saved? If Christ came into being at some point, then there is no way He could have satisfied the infinite wrath of God in the place of so many sinners. If Christ came into being at some point, then He is a created being and could not have had the infinite worth of an eternal and infinite being needed to suffer and satisfy the wrath of God. It is the eternal Son of God alone that can do what the blood of bulls and goats could not do (Heb 10:4) and “perfect for all time those who are sanctified” (Heb 10:14).

The eternal nature of God is necessary for the teaching of the plans of God. God planned salvation before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4) and even prepared a kingdom for the saved from the foundation of the world (Mt 25:34). Christ was loved by the Father before the foundation of the world (John 17:24) and was foreknown before the foundation of the world but has appeared in these last times (I Peter 1:20). It is Christ who is called “eternal father” in Isaiah 9:6. There is no understanding of Christ and the Gospel (the eternal Gospel of Rev 14:6) without the biblical teaching of the eternal nature of God.

There is also the direct meaning for the doctrines of the next life. We are told over and over that those who believe in Christ have eternal life. We are told that those who die without Christ go into the eternal fire. We are told, in a different way, that those who enter heaven enter into eternal life. So what is clear from all the texts of Scripture that speak of these things is that the Gospel and heaven and hell depend on the nature of God being eternal. If God is not eternal, then hell will end some day. If heaven is not for eternity, then heaven will end someday. If the Gospel is all about eternal life, then the salvation wrought by Christ either brings eternal life or it does not. Christ Himself claimed to be the life (John 14:6) and John wrote that He came to bring understanding and know Him who is true and that Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life (I John 5:20).

Matthew 18:8 – “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire.”

John 5:24 – “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”

With these verses in mind, it is hard to grasp these teachings of Scripture without coming to the realization that God is eternal and is life itself. Man whose life is but a vapor must bow before the God who has planned man’s existence and the boundaries of his life. Man must bow before this eternal God who alone can grant eternal life and who alone holds all things in His eternal hands.

The term “eternity” is casually tossed around in a lot of cases. The human mind cannot begin to grasp what eternity really means since eternity is really the infinity of God in reference to time. While eternity may not have a specific reference to time in and of itself, that is how the human mind tries to grasp the concept. Eternity in one sense refers to the endless existence of God prior to creation and His endless existence after the final judgment. For God to be eternal is to say that He never had a beginning and that He will never have an end. It is a necessary corollary with God’s self-existence or Aseity. There is a sense in which the soul should view the grandeur of the glory of God’s eternity with nothing but sheer awe and reverence.

Deuteronomy 33:27 – “The eternal God is a dwelling place, And underneath are the everlasting arms; And He drove out the enemy from before you, And said, ‘Destroy!'”

Isaiah 9:6 – “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

Isaiah 43:13 – “Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?”

Matthew 18:8 – “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire.”

Matthew 19:16 – “And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?”

Ephesians 3:11 – “This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In terms of theology, the Bible (and the theology that flows from it) does not make sense without the eternity of God. The very definition of God depends on His eternity since He has planned all things from eternity. The very concept of heaven and hell being either eternally a place of joy or of punishment depends on God’s being eternal. The very concept of God decreeing all things from eternity or having a Divine plan or planning to send Christ from all eternity depend on God’s being eternal. This attribute is, once again, a basic concept that belongs to God and to no other being at all. It is part of the divinity of God.

This God must be approached with a reverential fear. He is from eternity and has planned all things from eternity. Man should seek His wisdom in all things and seek His counsel in all things. Since God is eternal He knows the future as well as the past. No one can add knowledge to Him or inform God of anything. When anything happens on earth or in the universe, God does not gain knowledge or information from that at all. Because He has planned all things from eternity, things happen because He knows them. The eternity of God is not just a bare concept that men may admire because it is far above them, but it is an attribute of God that is part of His whole being. Infinity shows that there are no boundaries to God, but eternity forces us to look at the infinity of God in reference to something man calls time. In one sense eternity is not living forever, it is just living without the influence of time. It is a perfect state of being in which, shall we picture it, God fills all time and yet stretches infinitely in all directions from time as well.

The eternity of God is important for all of the attributes of God which we will get into later. If man is to be saved by love and grace and then go to heaven to enjoy those for eternity, it is necessary for God to be eternal in all of His being. Our souls can (as a picture) expand more than our brains. The brain cannot wrap around or begin to conceive of eternity, but the soul can admire with joy and pleasure the glory of God that shines through His eternal nature. What a great and glorious God who has been from all eternity and will be forever and forever. From eternity past He has planned all things that would ever happen. He has planned all things to happen for His own glory. Nothing can take place in what we conceive of as time unless it had been planned from all eternity. Nothing takes Him by surprise and that includes the conception and birth of human beings. We were planned from eternity.

The Spurgeon Baptist Association of Churches will have it’s annual meeting beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 20th, at Trinity Baptist Church in Wamego. All are welcome to attend.

The infinity of God brings great light to the Gospel. The Gospel is the Gospel of God (Mark 1:14; Rom 1:1; 15:16; II Cor 11:7; I Thess 2:2, 8, 9; I Peter 4:17), the Gospel of the kingdom of God, and the Gospel of the grace of God. In other words, the Gospel is all about God and the outshining of His glory (Hebrews 1:3) which is seen in the face of Christ (II Cor 4:4-6). Since infinity is of necessity an attribute of God that flows through all of His other attributes in a glorious simplicity and oneness, the infinity of God shines in and through the Gospel as well. It is only if in some way the glory of God is infinite in the Gospel that dwelling upon the Gospel for all eternity without some degree of tediousness will be possible.

The first thing to be noted is that the Gospel brings eternal life. In fact, John 17:3 says that knowing God and His Son is eternal life. Now what is eternal life? It is to share in the life of the infinite God. Eternal life is something that starts the moment a person has Christ who is eternal life. Whatever is eternal has is roots in the Infinite. God, who is self-existent by virtue of possessing life and even eternal life, or perhaps is life and eternal life itself, brings Himself to sinners and gives Himself through Christ which is to say that they share in His life. Sinners only obtain eternal life to the degree that they have the life of God in them through Christ. That is exactly what Christ did in coming to give understanding, “so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life” (I John 5:20).

While most think of eternal life as simply being in heaven for eternity, that idea does not give any real insight into eternal life. Eternal life is sharing in the very life of God through Christ. It is sharing in the life of God that flows between the members of the Trinity. That life starts now and continues in a higher degree in eternity. “For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself” (John 5:26). It is because the Son has life in Himself that He can say “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life (John 5:24). It is when a person comes into union with Christ that the life of Christ (which is life itself and eternal life) is in a person and that person has eternal life. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:27-28). It is because He is eternal life that He can give eternal life.

It can be clearly seen simply from what eternal life is that the infinity of God is relevant to the Gospel. In fact, without the infinity of God there is nothing intelligible about eternal life. However, with the nature of God as infinite we can clearly see that eternal life is possible only as an act of sheer grace. In fact, the infinity of God in reference to eternal life also shows that there must be an infinite grace that saves man. What else but an infinite grace can save man when whatever saves man gives an infinite life or an eternal life? God saves to the glory of His grace (Eph 1:6) which means He gives eternal life in accordance to that grace. Can we have a small amount of grace that bestows eternal life? Can we have a small amount of love that bestows eternal life? Clearly we cannot understand how this can be. The cause of an effect must be at least as large as the effect. If eternal life is the effect, then the cause which is grace and love must be infinite.

“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen” (Eph 3:16-21). The Gospel of Jesus Christ comes from a love that surpasses knowledge. That, I would think, would be an infinite love in that regard. The Gospel is all about bringing the infinite love of God to dwell in man and is all about the God who is able “to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or thing.” Is there a better way to describe the infinity of God? He is love and His love in Christ surpasses knowledge. You can explore the depths and all directions of His love and yet it still surpasses the human understanding. A Gospel like that is surely the Gospel of the infinite God who beyond all human understanding showers sinners with love, grace, and eternal life. That is simply a way of saying the infinite God redeems sinners in order to live His infinite life in them which is sharing in His life. The Gospel of the infinite God is a Gospel that is all about the infinity of God.

In trying to show how the infinity of God relates to Christ, we have a tall order ahead of us. How can a being that was on earth in a finite body that was human be able to open up the infinity of God to us? In truth, however, it is the infinity of God that explains Jesus Christ in many ways. The human nature of Christ is often worshipped as if the humanity of Christ was Divine. It was and is not. Let me be clear, the human nature of Jesus Christ was not Divine and is not to be worshipped. Jesus Christ is only an object of worship to the degree that He was and is Divine. In other words, as we look at John 1:1 we see that there was a pre-existent Word. It was this Word that was with God and was God. It was this Word that through whom all things that have come into being came into being. That necessarily precludes Him as One who came into being since all things that have come into being have come into being through Him. Then in John 1:14 we see that it was this Word that took human flesh to Himself and in this it is said that the very glory of God dwelt (literally tabernacled) among men. Jesus Christ is to be worshipped as God in human flesh, but not as human alone.

Jesus Christ is infinite in terms of His Divine nature. In His Divine nature He is omniscient (all-knowing), omnipotent (all-powerful), and omnipresent (all-present). He is, to put it plainly, very God of very God. Theologians have put it this way. The Trinity is One God subsisting in three Persons. The three Persons are one God but in some way they are not the same as the others. So it was the second Person (the Word) of the Trinity that took human flesh to Himself. The second Person of the Trinity, then, was one Person in Whom there were two natures joined. The Person we call and know as “the Word” in Himself joined a human nature to His Divine one. To worship Jesus Christ, then, is to worship God in human flesh if He is to be worshipped in truth. Jesus Christ as He walked about on earth was in appearance fully human. But in reality He was God in human flesh. In reality the Creator of the universe was walking around in a created body. He was infinite in terms of His Divine nature.

As we think of Jesus the Christ walking on earth and doing miracles, the infinite nature of the second Person of the Trinity was showing through the human flesh. He raised people from the dead at the utterance of His voice. He stilled the winds and the waves at the utterance of His voice. He healed with a simple touch. He turned water into wine. He fed thousands with a few loaves of bread and a few fish. What was the significance of all of these and the others? One, they demonstrated that the kingdom of God was among the people. Two, these were signs for the people to see that God in human flesh was among them. The infinity of God was shining through a human body and people were so hardened that they did not see what He was really doing. The same is true today.

In terms of the cross, it took an infinite Being on the cross in some way in order to suffer for the sins of human beings and for the justice of God. In a previous blog on infinity and sin I tried to set out that sin as against God is against an infinite Being and so worthy of an infinite punishment. Since man cannot suffer an infinite punishment, he must suffer for an infinite amount of time which is eternal damnation. For man to be saved, then, someone had to pay a payment of infinite sufferings in order to pay what man owed. No one but an infinite God could pay such a payment. Therefore, Jesus Christ as God in human flesh was the only One who could pay the debt that man owed God. The Gospel is glorious because there is a glorious Savior who suffered and thereby glorified God in a way that no one but God could and would.

When Christ said in John 8:58 that “before Abraham was born, I am,” chills should go up and down our spines. The eternal and infinite God has put Himself on display in Christ. How would we ever know what humility really was unless we saw in some small way what Christ did to take human flesh to Himself? How would we ever know the depths of humility and obedience would go to unless we saw that Christ humbled Himself to go to the Cross and suffer the wrath of the Father He loves so much? How would we understand anything like infinite love unless we saw in some way God’s love for His own glory in some way being joined with His love for justice and wrath on the cross? How would we ever know what grace was if Christ had not come and out of love for the Father and His glory took human flesh and then went to the cross? There is no way to explain the life and works of Christ apart from the infinity of God. There is no way to understand the love, grace, justice, and holiness displayed at the cross apart from the character of an infinite God. How should we respond to this? It is hard to explain when people are on their faces. But perhaps that is the best way to explain it.

To understand sin in its magnitude the infinity of God is a necessary teaching. The human mind is always looking for excuses and reasons in its attempt to justify itself for its mistakes and moral failures. Even referring to sin as a mistake or as a moral failure undermines the very concept of sin. The languages of our mouths, pens, and keyboards have expressed the language of our hearts. There is always an effort to water down or minimize our own sin and guilt. However, the truth of the matter is that sin is against God. To the degree that God is glorious and majestic in His Being and character is the degree that sin is against Him.

Psalm 51:4: “Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.” From a humanistic perspective David’s sin were horrible in what happened to other people. He, more or less, as king took a woman forcibly and she became pregnant. David arranged for her husband to die in battle. The child that the woman (Bathsheba) had died as a result of David’s sin. In one sense among the leaders of the world taking a woman is no big deal. Having a man killed in order to protect the king is no big deal. Among the liberals of the day it is an awful thing to be guilty of sexual harassment much less taking Bathsheba. Among the moralists of the day the sins of David were awful in that he violated God’s moral law. However, to a God-centered Christian the real crime that surpasses everything else is that David sinned against God. It is not as many think that we must be nice to others because God says so, but we only love others to the degree that we love God and our sins that we commit against others are really sins against God. The great wrong done in the Bathsheba incident was the David sinned against God.

Jonathan Edwards (paraphrased) puts the awfulness of sin against God like this: a sin against an infinite being is an infinite wrong and deserves and infinite punishment. Since human beings are finite, they cannot suffer an infinite punishment so they must suffer for an infinite period of time and that is why hell is for eternity. Genesis 9:6 puts it like this: “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.” An attack on a human being is an attack on the infinite God. We can illustrate the issue like this. Let us suppose that a despot in the world put pictures of himself all around the country. Any disrespect demonstrated toward his picture was a sign of disrespect toward him. So God has put out His image in human beings and any disrespect or attack toward another human being is really an attack on Him. As the crime in the illustration of the despot was not against the picture but against the despot, so a crime against the human being is really against God. The punishment for the crime is not punishment because of what happened to the picture, but because of what the picture represented. The punishment, not surprisingly, is far more severe than if a person just damaged any picture. The punishment leveled against the crime is in proportion to how the despot views his own value.

The level of a crime is measured by the greatness of the damage done, of the majesty of the One offended, or the greatness of the office of the one the crime was against. The glory of God is far greater and more valuable than anything or all things together in the universe. A sin is a crime against God and therefore the greatness of the crime is that it is an attempt to steal the glory from God. The majesty of God as the One offended cannot be measured since He is infinite. The crime is against the Sovereign of the universe and so who can measure how awful a crime is against the infinite and sovereign Lord of all things. When infinity is ascribed to God it should be ascribed to all of His Being and character. It is not just that God is infinite in one way and not in others, but He is infinite in all of His Being and Character. When one sins against God, it is a sin against an infinite holiness, an infinite mercy, and infinite grace, and infinite love, and an infinite justice. There is no possible way for a finite being to measure the degree of guilt that is accumulated by a sin against God.

One reason that people have such a slight view of sin in our day is because they do not understand the infinity of God. When people have no understanding of the infinity of God they necessarily have a small view of God. A small view of God leads to a small view of sin and the cross. We cannot begin to understand the cross until we have some concept of the evil of sin as against an infinite God. It should be no surprise that the Church has lost the true view of how amazing grace is because it no longer sees who God is and the nature of sin against Him.

What is it about the infinity of God that would promote evangelism in the Church? Is this just some sort of high intellectual thought that has no real value other than to tickle the fancies of the intellectually proud? Since the infinity of God is necessary to understanding God and the Gospel is the Gospel of God, surely this has a place in evangelism. Does this mean that in evangelism we should run around preaching for people to repent of their finite god and turn to the infinite God? In some ways that is exactly what we are to do. This is, after all, the pattern of Paul in Acts 17.

Why should Christians evangelize at all? Well, because there is the command to go and make disciples. Included in this command is the command to do what we call “evangelize.” While evangelism is thought of differently today, evangelism is really all about rebellious sinners turning from their crimes against a holy God and being humbled to submit to His claims over them in the Gospel. In Acts 17 Paul proclaimed the glory of God and told people that He commanded them to repent. The infinity of God is a magnificent tool to be used by the evangelists. Perhaps it is true that the term “infinite” may not come up, though there is nothing wrong with doing that either. But the infinity of God as it relates to all the attributes of God and therefore to the nature of sin and the Gospel cannot be ignored. While this may sound weird to some, evangelism is far too man-centered and it must be returned to a thorough God-centeredness if it is going to be true evangelism. God is not standing by in heaven weeping while He anxiously hopes that people will choose Him. He is sovereign over the entire universe and has brought all things that have come into being into being (John 1:1-5). He is the One who turns people over to sin and hardens their hearts (Rom 1:18ff). He is the One that all sin is against and is enmity toward (Psa 51:4). He is the One who in the exercise of His will creates new hearts in sinners (James 1:18). He is the One who grants repentance or not (II Tim 2:25ff). He is the One who commands all men to repent (Acts 17:30-31).

As we look at the above list of things, surely it is clear that the greater God is the more those things will press upon the hearts of those we evangelize. If we picture God as helpless in the matter and just anxiously waiting for people to decide for Him, we have just committed idolatry in our view of God. Therefore, it appears that most evangelism in America is really an idolatrous practice. What is needed is a view of the infinite God so that true evangelism can be done. Stephen Charnock said this: “It is impossible to honour God as we ought, unless we know Him as He is.” The same thing is true of evangelism. We cannot evangelize with the Gospel of God unless we know God as He is. We cannot declare the Gospel of God in truth unless we know this true God. Indeed, as Paul said in Acts 17, people do worship things in ignorance thinking that it is the true God. They must know about and then know the true God in order to worship and to evangelize.

Eternal life is to know God and His Son, Jesus Christ (John 17:3). Can we even begin to tell people what eternal life is unless we know God who is infinite in His Being and character? In the modern day eternal life is thought of as living forever in a place that is not hell. What an impoverished and God-dishonoring view! Eternal life is sharing in the life and holiness of God on earth and then for eternity. Hell is falling into the hands of the living God who is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). If the God of heaven and hell is finite, then we cannot think of eternal life or of eternity in hell in terms of length or in quality. The teaching of infinity is necessary to lift the minds of finite man above himself and to focus on the God who is far above him. Therefore, teaching the infinity of God is necessary to understand the God of the Gospel that man is to proclaim to sinners.

Why should we evangelize? Because God is exceedingly worthy to be proclaimed in all of His excellencies. Evangelism is stunted (to put it mildly) when the glories of God are not declared, but the reason for going forth in evangelism is because we love God and want to proclaim His glory to a world that should bow in humble submission to Him. We should evangelize because we want to make Him known so that others would share in His glory. But this cannot be done properly with a finite god who would be just some bigger and some better than finite man, so we must go forth with the message of an infinite God who is infinitely glorious and infinitely worthy of all the love and worship of man. Anything less is not evangelism of the true God. Evangelism to be evangelism must be good news about the true God, not good news about a false one which is simply an idolatrous message to sinful men who want to suppress the truth about the true God. May our evangelism not assist men in their suppression of the truth of God as we proclaim Him as infinite. 

The very word infinity inspires or gives a sense of grandeur. A sense of grandeur or awe is necessary for worship because worship is to praise or be in awe of God. We worship that which we love the most. It is that which man thinks about and sets his mind on the most. So to the degree that God is majestic and glorious, that is the degree that man is to worship God. How man needs to have his mind and soul removed from the worldly ways of thinking and viewing things in order to have a sense of awe and reverence for God. All things in the world are finite and yet man sets his heart on those things. The heart of man must be removed from the world in order to set it on things above, even things that are infinite since God is infinite in His being and in all of His perfections.

Psalm 147:1 Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God;
   For it is pleasant and praise is becoming.
 2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the outcasts of Israel.
 3 He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.
 4 He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them.
 5 Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.

This Psalm is obviously one of praise. Verse 1 sets out that it is good to sing praises and the reason it is good is because it is pleasant and something becoming to God and man. God is worthy of praise because He builds up Jerusalem, and yet He gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the broken hearted and binds their wounds. Notice the contrast between vv. 3 and 4. In v. 3 He is healing the brokenhearted and binding up their wounds, but in v. 4 He is counting the numbers of the stars and giving names to all of them. V. 5, then, is the obvious conclusion that God is great and abundant in strength. But how does the second part of v. 5 fit? It takes an infinite understanding to do what God does. How can God heal thousands of the brokenhearted and bind their wounds at the same time? If it takes a physician with great understanding to apply the right medicines to the right disease, how much greater is it for God to heal hearts? How much greater understanding does it take for God to heal hearts?

When we try to imagine billions and perhaps trillions of stars that astronomers tell us about is it any wonder that God’s understanding has to be infinite in order to count and name them? In the Old Testament times to name something meant that one was in control and perhaps even owner of it. God’s naming of the stars shows that He is the sovereign over them and that He is their rightful owner and commander. How much understanding does it take to call the stars out and have them right where He wants them in the sky?

The infinity of God should give man the sense of awe in all that God is. It should drive man to see his own smallness and utter insignificance apart from the holy One of Israel. With utter and complete adoration man should worship the living God who is infinite in all that He is and does. Who is man to seek the face of an infinite God? Who is man that God would stoop to take human flesh and go to the cross in the place of sinners? Ah, surely man is nothing more than a blind babe in the vastness of the universe and the glory of God. Who is man that he would dare take the infinite God’s name on his lips? Who is man that he would dare approach this infinite God to ask for something? Who is man to even think that this infinite God would take human flesh in order to deliver man from the ravages of sin and make puny and sinful men the very children of God? It would be blasphemy of the highest order to think of man as the temple of God if it had not been revealed in Scripture. But this great God who is infinite in all of His being does bring wretched sinners to Himself because He is infinite in grace as well.

“Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; 29 for our God is a consuming fire” (Heb 12:28-29). How grateful man should be in light of the infinity of God and of the infinite grace believers have received through Christ. In light of the glory of God, it takes reverence and awe to worship. In light of all that God has done to glorify Himself through man, man should be grateful. The infinity of God demands and draws worship. How we should bow in worship before such a great and glorious God. We can do nothing for God, so let us worship Him in whom we all live, move, and exist and He gives life, breath, and all things (Acts 17:28, 25).  
 

The very word infinity inspires or gives a sense of grandeur. A sense of grandeur or awe is necessary for worship because worship is to praise or be in awe of God. We worship that which we love the most. It is that which man thinks about and sets his mind on the most. So to the degree that God is majestic and glorious, that is the degree that man is to worship God. How man needs to have his mind and soul removed from the worldly ways of thinking and viewing things in order to have a sense of awe and reverence for God. All things in the world are finite and yet man sets his heart on those things. The heart of man must be removed from the world in order to set it on things above, even things that are infinite since God is infinite in His being and in all of His perfections.

Psalm 147:1 Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God;
   For it is pleasant and praise is becoming.
 2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the outcasts of Israel.
 3 He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.
 4 He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them.
 5 Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.

This Psalm is obviously one of praise. Verse 1 sets out that it is good to sing praises and the reason it is good is because it is pleasant and something becoming to God and man. God is worthy of praise because He builds up Jerusalem, and yet He gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the broken hearted and binds their wounds. Notice the contrast between vv. 3 and 4. In v. 3 He is healing the brokenhearted and binding up their wounds, but in v. 4 He is counting the numbers of the stars and giving names to all of them. V. 5, then, is the obvious conclusion that God is great and abundant in strength. But how does the second part of v. 5 fit? It takes an infinite understanding to do what God does. How can God heal thousands of the brokenhearted and bind their wounds at the same time? If it takes a physician with great understanding to apply the right medicines to the right disease, how much greater is it for God to heal hearts? How much greater understanding does it take for God to heal hearts?

When we try to imagine billions and perhaps trillions of stars that astronomers tell us about is it any wonder that God’s understanding has to be infinite in order to count and name them? In the Old Testament times to name something meant that one was in control and perhaps even owner of it. God’s naming of the stars shows that He is the sovereign over them and that He is their rightful owner and commander. How much understanding does it take to call the stars out and have them right where He wants them in the sky?

The infinity of God should give man the sense of awe in all that God is. It should drive man to see his own smallness and utter insignificance apart from the holy One of Israel. With utter and complete adoration man should worship the living God who is infinite in all that He is and does. Who is man to seek the face of an infinite God? Who is man that God would stoop to take human flesh and go to the cross in the place of sinners? Ah, surely man is nothing more than a blind babe in the vastness of the universe and the glory of God. Who is man that he would dare take the infinite God’s name on his lips? Who is man that he would dare approach this infinite God to ask for something? Who is man to even think that this infinite God would take human flesh in order to deliver man from the ravages of sin and make puny and sinful men the very children of God? It would be blasphemy of the highest order to think of man as the temple of God if it had not been revealed in Scripture. But this great God who is infinite in all of His being does bring wretched sinners to Himself because He is infinite in grace as well.

“Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; 29 for our God is a consuming fire” (Heb 12:28-29). How grateful man should be in light of the infinity of God and of the infinite grace believers have received through Christ. In light of the glory of God, it takes reverence and awe to worship. In light of all that God has done to glorify Himself through man, man should be grateful. The infinity of God demands and draws worship. How we should bow in worship before such a great and glorious God. We can do nothing for God, so let us worship Him in whom we all live, move, and exist and He gives life, breath, and all things (Acts 17:28, 25).  
 

The teaching of God’s infinity should terrify the unbeliever when he considers that the degree of God’s holiness is far beyond what he can imagine. Men desire God to be like themselves and so they try to twist Scripture and theology to fulfill that desire (Psa 50:21; Acts 17:29). When confronted with the infinite holiness of God, men may bow in sheer self-condemnation before His blazing glory as Isaiah did (Isa 6) or they will try to twist the information to feel more comfortable. The infinity of God makes His glorious holiness more than the eyes and hearts of men can bear. However, for the believer this is of great comfort. The infinity of God’s holiness means that God is set apart to do all for His own glory and so He cannot change and He cannot deny Himself. The believer loves the infinity of God’s holiness and its beauty and so wants more and more of it. It is a delight to think of growing in the knowledge and delight of this holiness for all eternity.        

The infinity of God’s power should move the unbeliever to a great fear. The power of God as infinite knows no limits or bounds that any other being put on Him. “Who understands the power of Your anger And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You” (Psa 90:11)? No human can understand the depths of an infinite power. No human can do anything to escape the infinite power of God. Man is a bit like a very small bug trying to stop an entire ocean of water moving toward him. The water cannot be stopped and all of man’s efforts at this are simply useless and he will be overwhelmed. Such is man in the sight and hand of God. However, for the believer this is a great comfort. God can do whatever it takes to bring relief to the believer. Nothing happens to the believer that God has not allowed to happen.

“Who understands the power of Your anger And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You” (Psa 90:11)? Using the same verse, we can also see the infinity of the fury and anger of God. The wrath that God displays on earth and in hell is beyond what the mind can conceive. There will be no end to an infinite wrath and there is no limit to what an infinite wrath can do. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God who is infinite in His anger and fury. But this also gives comfort to the believer who looks upon the infinite wrath of God and knows that Christ has suffered and died as a propitiatory sacrifice in order to remove that wrath. So the believer is excited to praise and adoration as s/he looks upon the wrath of God because it opens up new venues to see the grace of God on display.

As the unbeliever should tremble knowing that nothing can protect him from God, so the believer gains comfort by knowing that nothing can keep God from protecting His people if He desires. God can do as He wills on earth and heaven and no one can limit or thwart Him since God is not limited in any way but Himself. While the unbeliever has no hope for anything but wrath in his state of unbelief, the believer can look to the infinity of God in terms of His love as comfort. “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us” (Eph 3:16-20).

According the text above, man may know (intimately) the love of Christ which is beyond knowledge. This is simply the infinity of God expressed in love and yet should be of great comfort to the believer that there is no end to this vast love of God. For eternity there will be boundless oceans of love for streaming and surging to and through all who are in Christ. Out of that love there is this great and infinite God who can not only do all that man can ask or think, but can do “far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think.” God is not limited by what man can think or pray. God is not limited by the mind or heart of man. Man should humble himself before this great majesty of heaven and realize that truly God is infinite and so man should be in the dust before His infinite majesty. It is only fitting.