God Loves… Himself

If God is infinite in all of His Being and ways, then He is infinite in all of His attributes. The meaning for this is enormous. Man wants to think that he has something nailed down and perhaps under his control if he has something defined and perhaps figured out. But this (infinity of God) teaches man that all of God’s attributes are beyond his comprehension so that the glory of God is far more than man can grasp with his mind.

God’s infinity in reference to time is His eternity. His infinity in reference to space is His omnipresence. His infinity in reference to His power or ability to act is His omnipotence. His infinity in reference to knowledge or the extent of His knowledge is His omniscience. All of these attributes show His infinity and yet His infinity shows the extent of those attributes. In reference to His moral or communicable attributes, God is unlimited in those too. This means that every moral or communicable attribute is present in God in an absolute and unlimited degree as well.

“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 3:20). This verse shows some of the practical aspects for man of God’s infinity. No matter what man can ask of God and think about God, He can do abundantly beyond what man can ask or think. How absurd for man to think that he can ask God something that He cannot do. How absurd it is for man to think that he can even ask something in prayer that is even hard for God. The issue of prayer is to worship God and to be conformed to His will so that in prayer man asks according to that which glorifies God and is in line with what God is doing. But man should never think for a moment that his prayers are putting God to the test in terms of what God can and cannot do.

“‘Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You (Jer 32:17). “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?” (Jer 32:27). Here is the God that man is to worship and be amazed at. Nothing, simply nothing is too difficult for God to do. The infinity of God should bolster the faith of man in God since God can do all He wants to do. “But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases” (Psa 115:3). What a God of majesty and glory when nothing and no one can prevent Him from doing what He pleases! It will take eternity to even begin to make a scratch on the understanding of a God like this. If God wants to do something, then He is infinite in power and ability to do as He pleases. If God desires to be somewhere, then His infinity in presence means that He is there at all times. If God wants to know something, then He is infinite in knowledge and knows all things. Who or what can hinder a God like this?

When God desires to set His love on a molecule sized being (in relation to the universe) on earth called man, who are what will stop Him? If God desires to show grace to a sinner, what amount of sin will stop the God who is infinite in grace? Grace can cover more sin than man can even imagine. When we think of the verses that speak of God showing mercy to whom He will show mercy (Exodus 34; Romans 9), do we think that these texts just mean that God only has to show mercy on those He wishes to? No, this also shows that if He wants to show mercy on certain people He can and will show mercy on those people if He pleases. Who will stop Him from showing mercy to the Gentiles? Who will stop Him from showing mercy on the worst of sinners? No one can, not even the worst of sinners can thwart God.

When Scripture speaks of God’s holiness in terms of His being “holy, holy, holy,” can we imagine that as being anything less than an infinite holiness? If God is infinite in reference to His being, then He must be infinitely holy or He would not be holy in all of His being. No matter the degree that we think God’s blazing holiness reaches, it is far beyond that. No matter how great we see the beauty of His holiness, He is far more beautiful than man can imagine. “One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD And to meditate in His temple” (Psa 27:4). We can think of this as on earth or that which will be fulfilled in heaven. Man will never have to worry about this great desire of just beholding the beauty of the LORD coming to an end. There is an infinite beauty to behold. Finite man will be able to do this for his whole life on earth and then for all eternity. Not only will he be able to do this, but there will be no end to the glory of this beauty because of the infinite beauty of God.

Doctrine is simply a teaching of the Bible. The Bible is the revelation of God. Therefore, the Bible is the revelation of God in all He is through certain doctrines or teachings. The infinity of God, then, would have weight on each doctrine taught. Each doctrine of Scripture reflects something of the glory of God. If God is infinite in all of His attributes, then to understand God means that we must come to grips with the infinity of God. If it is thought that a doctrine is perfectly understood in all of its lines and trains of thought, which shows how ignorant one really is of God. Doctrine is a glorious thing and men can know particular doctrines well and thoroughly in one sense. However, each doctrine reflects the character of God and one can always grow in understanding God and so one can always grow in terms of the doctrine and how it reveals the character of God.

When we think of the doctrine of heaven, for example, the infinity of God helps us to understand God as inexhaustible in glory. Heaven will never be less than the fullness of joy since finite beings can never empty God. Hell is the same but in reverse. Believers cannot imagine the degree of love and joy they will have, but those in hell cannot imagine the degree of torment that they will have either. We can know that we can never reach the end of the knowledge of God on earth or in eternity. Since there is no end to the glory of God, man can always learn more and more of the glory of God and of how doctrines reflect His glory and tie in with each other.

If God is infinite, then doctrine must be understood in different ways. The mind cannot understand or hardly even apprehend what infinity is, so to know God is not just the providence of the brain. God must be seen by the eye of faith in order to see God in the doctrine. God must be understood as infinite with the eye of faith that beholds His glory in ways that academics cannot teach one to do. Eternal life is to know God (John 17:3). In fact, Christ came to give us understanding so that we could know Him and that is eternal life. “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us 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). Jesus also gives us another reason for why He came to make the Father known: “and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:26).

As we think about the verses above, we can see that eternal life (life for an infinite amount of time as in eternity and sharing in the life of the infinite God) rests upon knowing God. So what man can know is true about God, that is, what man can know about God is in fact the way God really is. But can man know all about God in all ways? “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:9). Even though man can know God, he cannot discover the full depths of God. Neither, then, should man be surprised when he finds that he continues to grow in understanding of the teachings or doctrines that are meant to reveal God to man.

Many seem to think of seminary as a place to go and learn some truth and then spend the rest of their lives teaching that same truth. If people only teach what they learn at seminary, then they will never grow in their knowledge of God and will always be teaching the same old dry and dusty teaching. The infinity of God delivers the Church (or should) from dry and dusty teaching. Men should constantly strive to understand more and more of the glory of God through Scripture and its doctrines. There is always more to understand and love. How man must learn to worship as he studies the glory of God in doctrine and in all of life. Preachers must learn to look for more of the glory of God in the text because it is there and it must be brought out and displayed. The infinity of God should drive the soul to greater and greater expansion as it reaches and longs for Him knowing that it will always have the hunger for more and yet the hunger itself as well as the filling is pleasure.

If God is but a bigger way of being finite, then man has no hope. Man will eventually reach the end of knowledge and will grow stagnate. That sounds like a lot of churches and a lot of preaching. Man must never forget the infinity of God and so be caught up in worship and perhaps rapturous desire for His glory. To teach a God that the brain alone can comprehend and is just a lot bigger than man is the way to dead preaching and churches. We must recover this glorious teaching of God that permeates all of doctrine and of life.

I would like to make one more post on the issue of infinity and meaning. However, I would like to give the other side a hearing. The idea of infinity from a non-theistic position leads to great despair. Perhaps, then, this is also an apologetic when we think of what the idea of infinity does to people. The quotations are from a book entitled On The Heights of Despair written by E.M. Cioran.

“I cannot speak of infinity without experiencing a double vertigo, both external and internal-as if, suddenly abandoning a well-ordered existence, I threw myself into a whirlwind and began to move through space at the speed of thought…This is the paradox of infinity: it makes the sensation of the end more real while at the same time making it ever more impossible, for infinity, both in time and space, leads to nothing. How can we accomplish anything in the future when we have behind us an eternity in which nothing was accomplished? If the world had had any meaning, it would have been revealed to us by now and we would know it. How can I continue to believe that it will be disclosed in the future when it has not been made manifest yet? But the world has no meaning; irrational at the core, it is, moreover, infinite. Meaning is conceivable only in a finite world, where one can reach something, where there are limits to stop our regression, clear points of reference, where history moves toward a goal envisioned by the theory of progress. Infinity leads to nothing, for it is totally provisional. “Everything” is too little when compared with infinity. Nobody can have the experience of infinity without spells of dizziness, a profound and unforgettable anxiety. How can one help being anxious when all is equally infinite?

Infinity renders impossible any solution to the problem of meaning. It gives me demonic pleasure to think that the world lacks meaning because of infinity. What’s the use of ‘meaning,’ after all? Can’t we live without it? Universal meaninglessness gives way to ecstatic inebriation, an orgy of irrationality. Since the world has no meaning, let us live! Without definite aims or accessible ideas, let us throw ourselves into the roaring whirlwind of infinity, follow its tortuous path in space, burn in its flames, love its cosmic madness and total anarchy!… Infinity shakes you to the roots of your being, disorganizes you, but it also makes you forget the petty, the contingent, and the insignificant…

The penchant for form comes from love of finitude, the seduction of boundaries which will never engender metaphysical revelations. Metaphysics, like music, springs from the experience of infinity. They grow on heights and cause vertigo. I have always wondered why those who have produced great masterpieces in these domains have not all gone mad. Music, more than any other art requires so much concentration that one could easily, after creative moments, lose one’s mind. All great composers ought to either commit suicide or become insane at the height of their creative powers. Are not all those aspiring infinity on the road to madness? Normality, abnormality, are notions that no longer mean anything. Let us live in the ecstasy of infinity, let us love that which is boundless, let us destroy forms and institute the only cult without forms: the cult of infinity.”

People do experience infinity every day if they would recognize it. Infinity is true, but we either see it as impersonal or Personal. If we see infinity as impersonal, then there is no meaning and all thought is simply irrational since there is no boundary or limit or definition of rationality that will work. In the impersonal view life is without meaning as there can be no meaning drawn within an infinite world that is not Personal infinity. The very teaching that God is infinite should give us an ecstasy that goes beyond what the writer spoke of. We must drive people to think beyond false boundaries and confront infinity. People must confront infinity to taste reality. When they do, they will be driven to one of two logical positions; that of the author that I quoted from or the Personal God who has revealed Himself in the Bible. The infinite God shakes people to the roots of their beings and makes them forget the petty, the contingent, and the insignificant. It is the God of the Bible who is infinite and gives life its meaning. God is the One who gives us boundaries within a boundless love and wisdom. We all will deal with infinity at some point and in some way. Let us be prepared to speak of the infinite God who brings meaning and order into a world of sin that wants infinity apart from God.

The infinity of God removes man from the center of the universe in man’s own conception. In other words, God is infinite and all that there is in the universe came into being through Him (John 1:1-3). When God breathed these words in John, He meant far more by them than they or we could or can imagine. This should humble man in the dust. The universe is not just the result of some inanimate causative force or big bang, it is the very handiwork of the living and infinite God. Because God is infinite, the universe may very well be infinite in relation to man. All that there is declares the glory of God. We should be thankful to scientists that in their work, whether knowingly or not, tell us of the glory of God. This should teach us that if God is infinite, then there is nothing in any location that is apart from Him and in some way derives existence and meaning from Him. This means that all is about God.

Infinity and Self-Centeredness
This attribute of God should teach us to see that life is all about the infinite God and that we relate to Him as our source and meaning. Man cannot find real meaning in and of himself as alone he is a speck of dust. When man lives for himself in self-love and self-centeredness, it is sin but also the ultimate blindness and absurdity.
What meaning can a speck of dust find in the vastness of this universe? This is something like a cartoon a few years ago. Calvin (not John Calvin, but of Calvin and Hobbes fame) is screaming into the vast sky with stars all over that “I am significant.” In the next frame it says: “screams the speck of dust.” That is really what modern man is doing. He is nothing but a speck of dust living on a planet which itself is a speck of dust in the universe and yet he is screaming that he is significant. How absurd that man thinks that he has meaning in and of himself in the face of such a universe and even more in the presence of God. How absurd is self-centeredness in the face of the universe and even more in light of the almighty God who created the universe and upholds it every moment. Man is indeed but an absurd and meaningless accident in a massive universe unless God is.

Infinity, God and Meaning
It is only when man is linked to the infinite God that he can find real meaning. It tells man to look for the purpose of life and of the universe in God. It tells man what the void within in him is that continues to scream for something far bigger than itself. Indeed, as has been said, longing for infinity is built into the heart of man. When one begins to understand just how absurdly small and meaningless he is apart from living to the glory of God, this removes the meaning of life in living and finding meaning in and for self. Now man can see that he must live in union with this infinite God in order to obtain any meaning in life at all. Now the Great Commandments make sense. It is only when man loves God that man is able to love another human being or anything at all. When man begins to see that all other human beings are linked to God, he realizes that he cannot love anything or anyone unless he loves the One who created them. One can have feelings for things and other people, but if not for God the feelings are really for self in that man looks to other people and things only for self. But in loving the infinite God man is freed from self-love and can now really love. I John 4:7-8 teaches that no one loves but those who know and are born of God. True love as it flows from God and back to God through all things gives life meaning.

Infinity and Glory
Isa 40:12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, And weighed the mountains in a balance And the hills in a pair of scales? 13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, Or as His counselor has informed Him? 14 With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge And informed Him of the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.16 Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, Nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering.17 All the nations are as nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?

These verses declare what glory the infinite God has. There is no way to measure Him or calculate His greatness and glory. Let us put our hands over our mouths and bow in worship of this glorious God. In this way our theology will be worship and our churches will have less strife because of self-centeredness. It really is all about Him. Let this teach us that we can spend the rest of our lives and eternity delighting and satisfying our souls in the limitless and immeasurable God. We can’t drink the ocean dry, and far less can we empty the glory of the infinite God.

The term “infinite” simply has the idea of being without bounds or limitations. In other words, there are no boundaries to the nature of God outside of the boundaries of His character. There are no boundaries that anyone can set to God and limit Him in any way. No one can limit God, thwart Him, or ward off His hand in whatever He wants to do. “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?'” (Dan 4:35). God does what He wants and no one in heaven or earth can stop Him, call Him to account, or even question what He has done. He is fully God and He is a real God and infinite in all of His being.

The term “infinite” simply has the idea of being without bounds or limitations. In other words, there are no boundaries to the nature of God outside of the boundaries of His character. There are no boundaries that anyone can set to God and limit Him in any way. No one can limit God, thwart Him, or ward off His hand in whatever He wants to do. “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?'” (Dan 4:35). God does what He wants and no one in heaven or earth can stop Him, call Him to account, or even question what He has done. He is fully God and He is a real God and infinite in all of His being.

All the attributes of God are infinite and beyond measure of any being in heaven or on earth. This attribute means that man cannot understand the depths of anything but must rely on God for understanding. “Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with You. If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count” (Psa 40:5). How can man even begin to comprehend all the wonders that God has done? Scientists and philosophers are barely scratching the surface in terms of understanding the physical realm on earth and they have barely even started studying space and other planets. Theologians are barely touching the hem of His garments as they study this majestic God in reference to the spiritual realm. What can we compare God with? We can attempt certain analogies, but they remain only poor analogies at best. If we try to speak and declare what God has done, who can even count them much less preach or teach all of the glory of God. Man has not grasped the meaning of the cross with a full comprehension much less all of Scripture and even less the whole glory of God. Ah, the sweetness of beginning the study of God in awe and wonder. “When I behold, in awesome wonder.”

Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite (Psa 147:5). There are great athletes in our day and great politicians from the past (implication intended). But what does that term (great) mean in reference to God? How the heart and mind must struggle to even begin to imagine what greatness is in terms of God. His understanding is infinite? What can that possibly mean? Analytical philosophy simply must put a hand over its mouth at this point. Theologians must put hands over their mouths as well and just stand back in wonder at a God so great in glory. We can never even begin to understand what God really is. He understands everything that there is and all that could possibly be. He understands the depths of everything and what everything is linked and tied to. He understands how all things are linked together in some mysterious way, though the mystery is ours and not His. How man indeed should trust in the Lord with all of his heart and not lean on his own understanding. Trusting in God’s understanding is true wisdom. Trusting in man’s understanding is true foolishness and folly.

“How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand” (Psa 139:17-18). This is yet another attempt at describing the thoughts and infinity of God. How precious it is to know the thoughts of God as they are revealed in Scripture, but to know the sum of all of them is vastly beyond the capacities of all finite beings put together. Who can gain an exact count of all the grains of sand on earth? Who can know the grains of sand in this vast universe? Yet God’s thoughts outnumber them. This is an expression that denotes infinity. God’s thoughts, that is, His understanding and wisdom are far beyond the capacity of man. How utterly glorious it is to bow before such wisdom and understanding and see how God plans to exalt and glorify His name in all things.

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable” (Isa 40:28). One begins to wonder why all these verses refer to the understanding of God. However, we must be careful in how we think of God’s understanding. For example, “as he thinks within himself, so he is” (Prov 23:7). Here, at the very least, we see the link between understanding and what a person is. So a reference to the vastness and infinity of the understanding of God is really a reference to all that God is. The catechism tells us that God is Spirit has not a body like men. God is pure understanding and pure thought, so if He is infinite in understanding He is infinite in all of His being and ways.

“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How gloriously unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways (Rom 11:33). His wisdom, knowledge, judgments and ways cannot be separated. He is infinite and glorious in all His being. How this should draw finite beings to utter awe, humility, and reverent worship. If we once gain a glimpse of His glory as it shines in infinity, we will never be the same.

As the last entry on the self-existence of God I would like to look at the beauty and loveliness of this attribute. It is really the beauty and loveliness of an attribute that draws the heart out to wonder and admire the glory of God. For example, when Scripture says that God saves to “the praise of the glory of His grace” (Eph 1:6), we can see that the purpose of salvation is so that the beauty of grace would be admired and delighted in. However, this is not that man can do this on his own power, but that God would save sinners and then open their eyes and hearts so that His glory would be in them in order to rejoice in His glory displayed. I believe that all attributes are to be delighted over in this manner. So we really glorify or manifest who God really is when He gives us an understanding of the beauty of an attribute through an action displayed in Christ and then we admire and praise it. In this way the glory of God is seen in and through man.

As the last entry on the self-existence of God I would like to look at the beauty and loveliness of this attribute. It is really the beauty and loveliness of an attribute that draws the heart out to wonder and admire the glory of God. For example, when Scripture says that God saves to “the praise of the glory of His grace” (Eph 1:6), we can see that the purpose of salvation is so that the beauty of grace would be admired and delighted in. However, this is not that man can do this on his own power, but that God would save sinners and then open their eyes and hearts so that His glory would be in them in order to rejoice in His glory displayed. I believe that all attributes are to be delighted over in this manner. So we really glorify or manifest who God really is when He gives us an understanding of the beauty of an attribute through an action displayed in Christ and then we admire and praise it. In this way the glory of God is seen in and through man.

While we may not often think of things in particular ways, it does not deny that they are true. Genesis chapter one has become a battle ground between liberals and conservatives and between old earth versus young earth devotees. I would assert that those issues are important, but there is something far more important going on. God is displaying His self-existence and self-sufficiency through the text of Scripture. In one sense if the glory of God is seen in the text then liberalism is not even a possibility and the age of the earth takes on less importance. In Genesis chapter one we read the words “in the beginning.” Chills should flow up and down our spine as we meditate on the significance of this. There was a time when there was nothing but God. What kind of God was He? He was a God who could bring things from non-existence to existence or as Romans 4:17 puts it, “even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.” God simply calls into being things which formerly did not exist. How is that for self-existence and self-sufficiency with a vengeance? This is what is meant by the words, “then God said.” Several times the text uses those words. What it means, however, is that God was calling things into being. When God calls, even things without existence spring into being.

When man walks outside, he can look up into the sky and behold the sun, moon, and stars which God called into existence. How did all that happen? Simply because God is self-existent and sufficient within Himself as life itself and He can call whatever He desires into existence. God called all the planets into existence. God called the trees and all plants into existence. God called all the animals into existence. Only He who called them into existence can uphold them in existence. In one sense, everything that has existence is declaring the self-existence of God every moment. This is an utterly beautiful and glorious aspect of God. The sun rises (so to speak) because of His faithfulness every morning. What is He faithful to? He is being faithful to His own glory and to His Son. The world cannot fail to end until King Jesus reigns over all of His enemies. So every morning the believer can know that the sun rises in one sense because of the self-sufficiency of God and the love God has for His own glory.

So the sun has been called into existence to shine forth the glory of God. Man can look at the sun and be amazed at how beautiful the sun is and how through the light of the sun all the other physical beauties of God can be seen. This is simply God calling into being one thing (sun) to give light so that His glory in other physical things could be seen. Look at how God has supplied animals and men with food. His self-sufficiency displays that He is sufficient to supply animals and men with what they need to live. The sun also teaches us of the spiritual light which Christ the Son gives us. Men must have Christ in order to see the glory of God in the spiritual realm.

Chapter one of Genesis and the rest of Scripture are all demonstrations of how God calls things into existence and sustains them each moment. He does this to display His glory and the love He has for His own glory. Therein is the true beauty of God and of true beauty in the world. Beauty is seen by symmetry, order, and delightfulness to the eyes of the mind and heart. In seeing how the whole world exhibits the glory of God in calling it into existence, man is to see true beauty in the self-existence of God. How lovely the symmetry and order are that He displays in creation. How truly beautiful it is to see the love He has for His own glory. How marvelously lovely it is to see God’s love for his Son in that the Father has given to the Son to have life in Himself and then come to earth and display and share that life with men. Remember, the Gospel is all about God giving eternal life to men which is really a sharing in His life which is all about living in joy and love within the Trinity. Will that life and love ever cease? No, the self-existent God lives in joy and love within Himself because that is life, even eternal life. This is far more beautiful than words can describe, but let our hearts delight in Him which is why we were created.

Fundamentally people want to know what difference something makes. What difference does the self-existence and self-sufficiency of God make in everyday life? In one sense, it makes all the difference that there can be. We can know that every breath we take is a gift of God and it is not because of ourselves. We can know that every breath is a gift of His grace. I am to live by His strength and grace instead of self-effort. I am to try hard things and endure hard things because of His grace which strengthens and upholds me, not because of any other reason. I can know that no matter what God calls me to do there is an inexhaustible supply of grace. No matter what happens to me during a particular day, I can know that God has grace enough to uphold me in that situation. So man must take his eyes off of himself and rest in God who has all the reservoirs of strength and grace within Himself.

Fundamentally people want to know what difference something makes. What difference does the self-existence and self-sufficiency of God make in everyday life? In one sense, it makes all the difference that there can be. We can know that every breath we take is a gift of God and it is not because of ourselves. We can know that every breath is a gift of His grace. I am to live by His strength and grace instead of self-effort. I am to try hard things and endure hard things because of His grace which strengthens and upholds me, not because of any other reason. I can know that no matter what God calls me to do there is an inexhaustible supply of grace. No matter what happens to me during a particular day, I can know that God has grace enough to uphold me in that situation. So man must take his eyes off of himself and rest in God who has all the reservoirs of strength and grace within Himself.

I can know that God is not a God to be bought off by good behavior. He is not a God who can be manipulated in any way. All that He does comes from Himself. When God saves according to His grace and all for His pleasure and glory, He does not do this in order to create a people who will repay Him. Man was not created to do things for God, man was created for God to glorify Himself through. Man can never do one thing for God since all things come from God. What will man give to God? Will man love God as if love came from man? No, man can only love God with the love that God has in man. Will man give money to God as if God needs money? No, God gives all things so when man gives he is simply giving back to God what is His anyway.

Can man serve God? Jesus said that He “did not come to be served, but to serve” (Mat 20:28). Paul taught that it is impossible to serve God: “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things” (Acts 17:24-25). On the other hand, men are servants of God. What are we to make of this? We can know that we can do nothing for God that He needs. God has no need and all things come from Him, including the life, breath, and all things of all people. God does not need us and has no need of what we can do. However, God has created man to glorify Himself. Man glorifies God when God is living in the man and shining forth His glory in the world. So man does not do things for God, but serves God when God does things through man. A servant in the Christian sense is one who goes about His master’s work being strengthened by God and doing all in such a way that God is glorified in them (Mat 5:16). It is God glorifying Himself through man. This is being a servant.

So it can be seen that the self-existence and self-sufficiency of God have enormous ramifications in the Christian life. It makes a huge difference in how man is to approach a life that is lived to the glory of God. It seems that many think that because they do good things that they are living to the glory of God, but that is mistaken. The glory of God is actually internal within Himself and can only become external by His actions. It must be God who shines His glory or it will not really be seen. The actions of man do not glorify God unless it is God in the man moving the man’s affections and actions for Himself. Man is not sufficient to glorify God of himself, He must simply be an empty vessel that God exalts Himself through. That is one huge impact that the self-sufficiency of God has for man in his everyday life.

The person in whom God has placed His love (Rom 5:5) can know that he is loved of God despite his many failures and imperfections. Why is that? Surely God loves because He is love. God’s love does not come to man based on the worth of man, but because of the self-sufficiency and self-existence of God who is love itself. God’s love is moved by God and not by sinful man. The one who is loved of God is loved because God is love. How this should ease a person’s mind to rest in that love. This should motivate man to pursue the glory of God in himself and therefore through himself. It should also move man to see how he can love his enemy since the love in him is from God and is moved by God. Throughout each day the believer has resources of inexhaustible love since his resource of love is God’s love for Himself. Does this make a difference? It is a difference far beyond what the human mind can really comprehend. Man has the resources to love all day in all circumstances because it is the love of God in him. However, man only has that love to the degree that self has been denied and that man has been humbled. Man is only full of God to the degree that he is empty of self and pride. God will not allow man to use His glory for the honor of man. All that man does as his chief desire for his own honor is simply false spirituality.

How does the self-existence of God help us to understand the Gospel? Some would laugh at the thought, but it is still true. It is the Gospel of God (Romans 1:1) and God is “the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ (II Cor 4:6). The Gospel is a primary way that God shines His glory to people. So it should be no surprise that we can examine the attributes of God in the Gospel. In doing this we are enabled see the glory of the Gospel which is the beauty of the attributes of God on display.

In the Gospel we are told how one can have life and how one can be made alive. Yet, without the One who has the power of life and is life itself this would not be possible. The Gospel itself depends and rests upon the One giving life to actually be life itself. The Gospel speaks and declares that eternal life is for all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, yet this could not be possible without Christ either being life or being the way to life. How can we believe in the promise of life unless the One promising this life can actually deliver life itself to us? How can He who promises life actually deliver this life upon His promise alone unless He has life itself? So the Gospel promises are themselves reliant on the self-existence of God.

Ephesians 4 tells us this: “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart.” The Gospel comes to people who are excluded from the life of God. The Gentiles, that is, unbelievers, live in the futility of their mind and are darkened in their understanding. They are excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. So the Gospel brings knowledge, understanding and life to those who hear. But what kind of promise does the Gospel bring apart from a God who has and is life? Ephesians 2 puts it this way: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). Salvation is God making people alive together with Christ. The Gospel is all about God making people who are dead in sin alive together with Christ by grace. It is in being delivered from the death of sin and given life in Christ that salvation is given.

God, as the source of life and being life itself, can give life to those He pleases. He does not need anyone else but Himself in order to bring sinners to life. Where does that life come from? On what basis does a person obtain life? How are we to get life? We must go to Him who is life. He can bring sinners to life because it all depends on Him to do so. It is by grace because He is sufficient in and of Himself to be the cause and reason for making sinners alive. Here the glory of God’s self-sufficiency is seen in a full array of beauty. God makes sinners alive by grace because He does not need anything from them as a cause to make them alive. He makes sinners alive because He is sufficient to do so all of Himself simply because He is self-existent and self-sufficient. This is a God that can be trusted and this is a God who can supply all that His people need without any of His supply coming on the basis of their worth or because they have earned it. God gives grace in order to display how gloriously self-sufficient He is. Salvation is to display the glory of His grace. So He is the source of grace and the sustainer of grace simply because He is sufficient to do so and needs no help from the creature. Any efforts and works of the creature that attempt to earn from God are really attacks on His sovereign self-sufficiency.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (I Peter 1:3). What is salvation in accordance with? Man’s works or efforts? No, but in accordance with His great mercy. Can man earn mercy? Can man incline God to mercy because of his own efforts? No, because if so that would make mercy more like justice or at least partial justice. What did man do to raise Jesus Christ from the dead? This is a rather dumb question in some ways. However, the resurrection of Jesus Christ was all because of the life and power of God. The causation of eternal life in the believer is also only because of the life and power of God. His self-existence and self-sufficiency teach man how humble man must become. They teach man that the Gospel is all from God because He needs no one to help Him. After all, the Gospel is all about His glory and He saves to the glory of His name. Without God being self-existent and self-sufficient, there would be no grace, no mercy, no life, and no Gospel. Self-existence is a vitally important attribute that shows the real character and glory of the Gospel.

The self-existence of God is also an attribute that helps us understand the character and works of Christ. The end of the Gospel is to bring eternal life to those who believe and are His bride. But how can this be true if Christ is not life itself? John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” It is crystal clear from this text that the Word never had a beginning and was before the beginning because in the beginning He already was. When we ask where all things came from, we know that it is from the Word. All things that have being came into being through Him and “apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” He has to be in some way self-existent and self-sufficient to bring all things that have being into being. We see from Hebrews 1:3 that “He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.” Not only did He bring all things that have being into being, He upholds all things as well.

The self-existence of God is also an attribute that helps us understand the character and works of Christ. The end of the Gospel is to bring eternal life to those who believe and are His bride. But how can this be true if Christ is not life itself? John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” It is crystal clear from this text that the Word never had a beginning and was before the beginning because in the beginning He already was. When we ask where all things came from, we know that it is from the Word. All things that have being came into being through Him and “apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” He has to be in some way self-existent and self-sufficient to bring all things that have being into being. We see from Hebrews 1:3 that “He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.” Not only did He bring all things that have being into being, He upholds all things as well.

We can try to imagine what heaven would be like without a Being who is life itself. Would heaven indeed be eternal and full of joy if there is no self-existent and self-sufficient One who upholds all things? Where is all that joy to come from? Where is the love to come from? Where is life for eternity to come from? All are upheld in His hands for eternity only because He has the power of life in Himself. John 8:58 tells us that “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”” Here the “I am” is a clear reference to His self-existence nature and the one who was the “I AM” before Abraham was born which is really another way of saying John 5:26: “For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself.” The Son has life itself in Him which is the very power of life. He is not just alive, but He is life itself.

The above verses and the concept that in His divine nature Christ is self-existent and self-sufficient explains in some way how the following verses can be true. “I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28). He who is eternal life or He who is self-existent and self-sufficient can give life as He pleases. He who is life knows that no one can ever snatch His people out of His hand for who can take people out of the hand of the One who is life and upholds all things at every moment? “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”” (John 11:25-26). Christ was claiming not only that He had the power of life, but that He was and is life itself. Those who are united to Him by faith and have His life in them will never die because of the power of life itself that Christ has and is. No one can take life from Him who is life.

This power of being life also is of great comfort in other ways. Jesus Christ who is life itself took human flesh to Himself in order to die. Life itself died in order that His people would not die but have life. But how can sinners be so sure that they will always be in heaven? Because of this: “And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life (Heb 7:15-16). Those who have Christ have One as Priest and even a priest forever according to the power of an indestructible life. Their Priest and Representative will never die but will always represent them. Verses 24-25 go on to say: “but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. 25 Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” In other words, the very nature of salvation and the eternal nature of it rest on the self-existence and self-sufficiency of God. People will never need to stop drawing near to God and so they need one with the power of life to go to God through. People will always need a High Priest that they can make intercession through, so they need One with the power of life to do so.

Revelation 1 sets out the teaching of the self-existence of Christ too. “17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.” Jesus Christ is the living One and He is alive forevermore. He alone has the keys of death because He is life and has defeated death. How vital it is that our Savior and intercessor be the self-existent One. It is life itself.

How does the teaching of God’s self-existence teach us about sin? It might be thought that this has nothing or little to do with sin, but this might surprise some. The image of God has been divided by theologians into two types. There is the image of God which man cannot copy, such as infinity and self-existence, but there is also the moral image of God. The image of God in all men is found in man’s ability to reason, have affections, and make choices. The moral image found only in believers as seen in holiness, truth, and love has been devastated by the fall and is only renewed in regeneration. The serpent promised Eve that she would be like God if she ate the apple. Ever since the fall man has tried to be like God in the wrong ways because man has fallen from the moral image of God. Now fallen man does not have the moral image of God (holiness, truth, love for God) and tries to act like God in living according to his own wisdom and independency. But only the self-existent God is really independent and has need of nothing.

How does the teaching of God’s self-existence teach us about sin? It might be thought that this has nothing or little to do with sin, but this might surprise some. The image of God has been divided by theologians into two types. There is the image of God which man cannot copy, such as infinity and self-existence, but there is also the moral image of God. The image of God in all men is found in man’s ability to reason, have affections, and make choices. The moral image found only in believers as seen in holiness, truth, and love has been devastated by the fall and is only renewed in regeneration. The serpent promised Eve that she would be like God if she ate the apple. Ever since the fall man has tried to be like God in the wrong ways because man has fallen from the moral image of God. Now fallen man does not have the moral image of God (holiness, truth, love for God) and tries to act like God in living according to his own wisdom and independency. But only the self-existent God is really independent and has no need of nothing.

Let us look at Daniel 5:22-23 to help us see sin: “Yet you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this, 23 but you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which do not see, hear or understand. But the God in whose hand are your life-breath and your ways, you have not glorified.” Here we see Belshazzar trying to live an independent way of life. He exalted himself against God as indeed all pride does. He praised idols because of what they did for him, but this is what man does in trusting in money and material possessions. He thought his life consisted of material things instead of being dependant on God for his very life-breath. He thought his ways were for his own choosing and so he chose to go his own way. He did not live for the glory of God; he lived for pleasure and the exaltation of self. What do we see in the life of Belshazzar? We see a very proud man trying to be something like God in His self-existence. He did not want others telling him what to do; he could do things his own way. He lived for himself as indeed only God has the right to do. He exalted himself as only God has the right to do. He used the things of God as if they were his, but only God has the right to do those things. He praised and trusted in created things, not the God who created them. He lived for his own glory and not the glory of God. In each sin there is actually the root of man trying to copy God in His self-existent nature to some degree.

What is man’s independent spirit but a desire to be free of all restraints and dependant on no one but himself? Only God is self-sufficient and without need of anyone or anything. What is pride but man exalting himself to where he is proud of himself as if he created himself and gives himself breath? What is pride but man being proud of what he has done as if God did not make all things and give man the wisdom to do what he is doing? What is murder but one person taking the life of another which is the prerogative of God alone? God is the One who upholds life and no one has the right to take a life but God. What is greed but the desire for more and more material possessions or for the fulfillment of some lust without regard for the God who created them and who upholds all other beings? What is greed but the desire to have many things for the ease and honor of self or the desire to have these things to be independent? What is stealing but a desire to obtain something that God has given to someone else without regard for anything but self? Stealing, then, is the desire to rule over property for selfish purposes rather than to bow before the self-existent God from whom all things come.

In reality, if a person has faith in God as the self-existent One from whom all things come, this should lead to a quiet faith even in times of need. The believer should know that God owns all things in reality and all things are sustained by Him and Him alone. Sin is simply a desire to be self-existent or, as the serpent promised, to be like God in His self-existence. The humble, on the other hand, desire to be low before God and receive all things from His hand. The humble know that all things are really the gifts of God. The humble desire for self no more than what God desires for them. If only people could see the hideous reality behind each sin which is in trying to be like God which is to be god to ourselves. This brings new and fresh meaning to what David meant when he said that his sin was against God and against Him alone (Psa 51:4). True humility is to be low before God because that is the proper position of a creature before its Creator who upholds each creature and its life-breath as He pleases.