Fingerprints of the Trinity

Our Lord crafted the universe with great precision — complete with finely tuned laws governing biology, gravity, thermodynamics, energy, motion, magnetism, light, sound, and all other aspects of creation. NASA planetary scientist John O’Keefe wrote, “We are, by astronomical standards, a pampered, cosseted, cherished group of creatures…. If the universe had not been made with the most exacting precision we could never have come into existence. It is my view that…the universe was created for man to live in."

The universe was not only created with genius and precision; it was created to demonstrate great beauty. It was fashioned by God with characteristics to correspond to our senses of sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Creation teaches us about the glory and goodness of God. Even the Psalms tell us that “the heavens declare the glory of God” (Ps. 19:1). Our triune God teaches us about Himself through the wonders of creation.

Thus, we should not be surprised that the Trinity has expressed an affinity for tripartite designs in the universe.

Our entire universe has been defined by three components — space, time, and matter. And each of these components can be further broken into three divisions. Space has three dimensions — length, width, and height. Time can be summarized as the past, present, and future. All matter exists in one of three states — solids, liquids, and gases. The entire exterior of our world is dominated by earth, sea, and sky.

The smallest of atoms features three microscopic components — protons, neutrons, and electrons. The nucleotides of the human genetic code are each identified by three individual codes (i.e., “triplet codons”). Sir Isaac Newton discovered three laws of motion. All of the various colors of the spectrum stem from just three primary colors — red, blue, and yellow.

Likewise, human actions can be summarized in terms of thought, word, and deed. A liberal arts education is often presented according to the famous medieval Trivium — grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Grammar is broken down into threes — three forms of nouns, three persons of verbal use, and three degrees of adjectives. Aristotle proposed three laws of logic — the laws of identity, non-contradiction, and excluded middle. He also identified three components of quality rhetoric — ethos (character), pathos (emotion), and logos (reason).

Indeed, there are many tripartite structures reflected in the designs of our triune God.

Resurrection & the Stench of Death

When Jesus commanded the men to roll away the stone covering Lazarus’ grave, Martha voiced great concern saying, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days” (John 11:39).

In virtually every culture on earth, men go to great lengths to conceal the decomposition of the dead, because the body’s decay signals the permanency of death. Muslims require a quick burial. In our culture, we even pay people to fill our corpses with preservatives to ensure our bodies don’t rot or stink before burial. The Handbook on the Gospel of John explains,“According to popular Jewish belief there was no hope for a person who had been dead for four days; by then the body showed recognizable decay, and the soul, which was thought to hover over the body for three days, had left.” Thus, when Jesus demanded access to Lazarus’ body, it would have seemed extraordinarily insensitive to the grieving family.

A Word from the Classics

The famous Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky captured this fear of decomposition in his 1880 classic, The Brothers Karamazov. In Russian culture, the premature decomposition of the body was considered evidence of a corrupt life. In one of the novel’s most pivotal events, the Christ-like Father Zossima died. As they prepared his body for a public viewing, the monks discussed whether to include ventilation in the room to help avert the odor of death. These monks concluded that “the anticipation of decay and the odor of corruption from the body of such a saint was an actual absurdity.” But when Father Zossima’s body began to emit a terribly foul odor on the very first day of his viewing, everyone was stunned. The monks concluded, “It must be a sign from heaven.” Thus, Father Zossima’s legacy was trashed.

Friedrich Nietzsche, perhaps history’s most wicked atheist, appreciated the writings of Dostoevsky — even though he was a devout Christian. Two years after The Brothers Karamazov was published, Nietzsche published The Gay Science — offering his harshest attack against Christianity. Nietzsche, who ended his life in utter insanity, ironically penned the famous parable of a “madman” searching for God.

“Whither is God?” he cried. “I shall tell you. We have killed him — you and I. All of us are his murderers…. Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night and more night coming on all the while? Do we not hear anything yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we not smell anything yet of God’s decomposition? Gods too decompose.God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.”

In a chilling response to Dostoevsky’s novel, Nietzsche argued that God was nothing more than a decomposing corpse, and — like Father Zossima — God was also corrupt. With this premise, Nietzsche then penned a philosophy, which remains popular on college campuses. Without God, he argued that all meaning and ethics should be reduced to the mere struggle for God’s throne. And like the madman, Nietzsche asked, “What are these churches now if they are not the tombs and sepulchers of God?"

Do you live as though God is living and active in your life — supreme over all else in this world? Or do you live as though Jesus is still in the tomb? The darkness of Nietzsche’s mind reveals the sharp contrast of faith and unbelief, and it should lead us to worship the brilliance of Christ with greater fervor. If Jesus remains dead, Paul wrote that Christians are to be pitied above all men. The permanency of the grave would extinguish any purpose or hope for our lives. Though we would continue to endure the devastating hardships of this life —depression, addiction, disease, fear, division, hatred, betrayal, injustice, tyranny, hunger, poverty, and loneliness, there would be no purpose to our lives. Death would be guaranteed the final word, and it would forever steal any significance from your pain.

While Nietzsche’s philosophies are extremely abhorrent on many levels, they do present us with an alternative reality of what life would be like if the resurrection were not true. When Jesus declared, “I am the resurrection and the life,” this was no small statement. It floods our lives with eternal significance!

If Christ is our only hope to overcome the effects of this fallen world, then it would make much sense to conform our hearts and minds to that of the Apostle Paul, who wrote:

I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish… that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own (Philippians 3:8-12).

Jesus came into this world to purchase us from the fate of death, but he is no stranger to suffering. As the early church father Gregory Nazianzus explained, “He began His ministry by being hungry, yet He is the Bread of Life. Jesus ended His earthly ministry by being thirsty, yet He is the Living Water. Jesus was weary, yet He is our rest. Jesus paid tribute, yet He is the King. Jesus was accused of having a demon, yet He cast out demons. Jesus wept, yet He wipes away our tears. Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver, yet He redeemed the world. Jesus was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, yet He is the Good Shepherd. Jesus died, yet by His death He destroyed the power of death.”

Purpose of Suffering… “That They May Believe”

One of the most profound miracles in John’s Gospel is the resurrection of Lazarus. In this story, we not only learn that Jesus has power over death, but we receive precious insight into the character of our Savior and the purpose of our suffering. Prior to the death of Lazarus, both Mary and Martha (the sisters of Lazarus) pleaded with the Lord to come and heal their brother.

So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (John 11:3-4).

Mary and Martha clearly believed that Jesus had the power to heal their brother, and they believed that Jesus was the Messiah (John 11:27). However, Jesus wanted to teach them a far more beautiful lesson about His lordship — one of the most difficult lessons in the Christian life. Jesus wanted the sisters and his followers to recognize that our sufferings are never pointless. Lazarus suffered “for the glory of God.” Two chapters earlier, Jesus likewise taught his disciples that a man who suffered blindness from birth had endured this hardship so that “the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3).

Jesus wanted to teach his disciples that our greatest glory is found when we invest our sufferings to advance His kingdom. The Lord could have healed Lazarus prior to death. God could have prevented his illness altogether. However, Jesus intentionally waited until Lazarus was dead before making the perilous trip to Bethany. When Jesus announced to his disciples that Lazarus had died, he also told them that he had deliberately waited for Lazarus’ death “so that you may believe” (John 11:15).

While Jesus had ordained that Lazarus would die for his glory, this was not a cold and callous exercise for Jesus. The Gospel of John tells us that upon seeing Mary and the other mourners experiencing genuine grief, Jesus “was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.” Indeed, “Jesus wept” with them.

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out” (John 11:38-43).

Neither the sufferings of Lazarus nor the tears of his sisters were in vain. Instead, the Lord invested their sufferings to advance His gospel and to enable a large crowd of mourners to witness the power of Christ in overcoming suffering and death. In fact, John tells us that “many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him” (John 11:45). When we meet Lazarus in glory, we will also meet many Jews who embraced Christ upon seeing His power to overcome Lazarus’ sufferings.  

Likewise, as we suffer through the great hardships of this life, we must realize that Jesus is not indifferent to our pain. He remains the same God who wept alongside Mary! Our God “intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26). However, the Lord also has a purpose for our sufferings! To the watching world, the power of Christ is most amplified in the midst of our sufferings! When we trust that God is using our most intense sufferings to advance his greater purposes, our sufferings are given purpose — even beauty. In our fallen world, everyone is faced with some degree of suffering. As we walk through these painful seasons, the Gospel of John calls upon each of us to ponder this question: “Do I trust that Christ is good, and He will use my suffering to advance His glory and my good?"

My First Sermon... in a Catholic Church (2002)

When I first dedicated my life to Christ in early 2002, I was attending St. Helen's Catholic Church in Vero Beach. I immediately began donating my time to all sorts of programs within the church... finance committee member, youth group director, and stewardship team. I even helped to develop a youth mass for Sunday nights with contemporary music. I can remember getting into a little trouble for telling the kids that confession and the infallibility of the Pope was nonsense. Nevertheless, Father Edwards was bold enough to allow me to deliver a ten-minute sermonette on stewardship (giving). But I preached the following message:

Good Morning and Happy Fathers Day. (June 16, 2002)

Today, we give thanks to all of our dads. I certainly don’t know where I would be without my dad. He has always been a source of love and support regardless of the circumstance that I had backed myself into. When I was young, whether in good times or in trouble, he would remind me of the talents that God gave me. What an enormous boost that would give me as a young boy! I can remember that he had a poster that hung in his office. It was a picture of a young boy with a pouting look on his face, his arms crossed and it read, “I know I’m special because God don’t make no junk”. How true it is! Often times, it is hard for us to really grasp this simple reality. We are all beautiful people… children of God. Yet, we clothe ourselves (our self-images) in our shortcomings: Marital problems, financial hardships, our disappointments, our health, loneliness, or even problems with the Church or maybe a lack of a good relationship with God.

Our church should be a place where we can lay these shortcomings down and leave them behind… where we can experience the fellowship that the Lord intended for Christians to have, a place where we can leave feeling refreshed and charged by the Holy Spirit, and a time during our week that we look forward to… every Sunday.

I may not have gone to school at St. Helens, but I grew up in the Church. I was an altar boy for nine years. I have been a member of St. Helens for nearly twenty years as a regular parishioner. My parents raised me to be a good Christian, but it wasn’t until this past year that I really got it. I was at a point in my life in which I was overwhelmed with stress, guilt, and frustration. I did not have any major problems in my life. I just couldn’t handle the problems that I did have. I did not know how to ask God for help. I had always looked at God as a reactive God.

He was the umpire and I was the pitcher. At this time in my life, I was getting shelled. I felt like there were no outs and the bases were loaded. And I had nothing left to throw.

It was hard for me to ask God for help. After all, the umpire never comes out to check on the pitcher’s arm. It was while I was in the dumps and I felt like a black cloud was over my head, that God showed me another one of his roles. He is our Coach. He called time-out, calmed me down, and got me re-focused on what’s important. I needed the break, and I realized that God is not just an objective judge. He wants us to win.

There are going to be times when I face problems that I can not solve… there will be shots from the plate that make it beyond the reach of my glove. That is why He provides us teammates. With the Holy Spirit and all my Christian friends, I do not feel like I am responsible for covering the entire baseball field. And that’s why he gave us the Holy Spirit and each other. The pitcher cannot chase flyballs to the outfield from the pitcher’s mound and expect to catch them. Likewise, there are problems that we cannot solve alone. We need share our life with God and each other, and that is what Stewardship is all about. God not only wants for us to share our time, talents, and treasure… God wants us to share our problems, our friendship, and enthusiasm. We need to yield our life to God. After all, he brought us in to this world, and he will take us out.

God wanted us to be supportive of each other. Jesus called us to be fishers of men. But many of us, including me, come to mass… week after week… and never introduce ourself to the person right beside us. Is that a Christian thing to do? Jesus called us to be fishers of men, but many of us don’t even know the people in our own boat. Folks! Look around. How many people do you see that are my age? It is time that we get our lines in the water.

It’s time that we get back to the basics of being a Christian. Sure, it is easy to let your mind get caught up in the headlines: pedophile priests, embezzling scandals, and cover-ups. It’s sickening.

But we cannot afford to take our eye off of the ball.

I would like for you to imagine that you are lost. You and those around you have been living your lives in sin; you are ignorant that Jesus Christ, our savior, even exists. One day, a man comes into your town. He is teaching all about Jesus, his teachings, and his miracles. Soon, you see the lives of those around you begin to change. Your own life is dramatically changed, and you build a great relationship with God. Of course, you admire the man who showed you the way. He was responsible for the most important conversion of your life, and you are convinced that he is a great man because he has dedicated his entire life to Jesus.

Now imagine that one day your mentor abandons his faith. He commits what is probably the most terrible sin in history. How would this affect your faith? Would it be shaken? Shattered? Would you walk away from the Church? Would you walk away from Almighty God?

I am not speaking of any Catholic Bishop.  2000 years ago, Jesus handpicked Judas (who would later betray him) to be one of twelve apostles. Was this a mistake? No. Jesus knew that he was to be betrayed. He announced it at the Last Supper. So, why didn’t he flee for safety? I believe that He wanted to show us one more time that man is fallible. 

Judas was fallible. Peter denied Christ three times at Christ’s roughest moment. Peter was fallible. They all doubted Christ in the rough seas before Christ stilled the waters. All of the apostles were fallible. Yet, Christ selected each of them. 

In the Catholic profession of faith, we claim to be a part of a Catholic and Apostolic Church. The American Heritage Dictionary defines the word apostolic as: “Of or relating to an apostle.” This Church is apostolic! We carry our roots in the apostles… in sinful men. Should we blame Christ for his selection of fallible men? Of course not! All men were fallible. Man is no less fallible today. Does that make these despicable actions acceptable? No way. But, it once again reminds us to place our trust… our faith… in God alone.

We will all face a judgment. After all, life is a terminal illness, and we cannot pitch that perfect game necessary to win the game on our own merits. Regardless of how we live our life, we will enter the bottom of the ninth… down by one on the scoreboard. Then, the game cannot be won with our pitches. It is much too late to reverse our pitches from earlier innings. Even if we could reverse our pitches… no man, by his own actions, is worthy to enter the Kingdom of God. You will have given your all, and it will not have been enough. But it is while we were down, hopeless, and ashamed (in the bottom of the ninth), that Jesus came to bat “clean-up”.

And with that… we will see victory.

There are too many people in this world that are putting themselves through an unneeded “shelling”. They are chasing fly balls to the outfield from the pitcher’s mound with no chance of catching them, they are going to bat for themselves in the bottom of the ninth, and they will lose if they play alone. They need a Coach, Teammates, and Fans. And with the right support and the Grace of God, the umpire will find us safe at home.

We should crave that for ourselves and for those around us. This Father’s Day… That should be something that all moms and dads desire for their children. It is certainly what God, our Father, desires for us … He wants us to win!

Loving Past the Auction Block

The woman’s figure is disgusting,

It is wretched on display.

Purity? Beyond her reach!

Condemned by our dismay.

One look at our society

And the red lights burn your eyes.

The hopelessness that’s bred today

Is treated like a prize.

Yet, she stands without expression,

And her shame is buried deep.

Her life has grown so worthless,

And her love is now so cheap.

Her face is chalked in make-up,

Any beauty is a fraud.

Forsaken by the world she hates,

Too ashamed to seek her God. 

Each day she spews her venom,

Her despair is up for sale.

She rejects the hope of love,

She has trashed her wedding veil.

Yet, there’s one who shows compassion,

And will treat her like a queen.

This whore is His beloved.

To us, she is obscene.  

Like Hosea bid for Gomer

Upon the auction block,

The Lord poured out His blood

To bring sheep back to His flock.

The woman is a trash heap —

Cast out by all who see.

She has failed to meet our standard.

At one time, this whore was me.

Let me not look away,

Teach me to love her face.

A hypocrite can cite Your law,

Help me to live Your grace. 

So when we’re in Your Kingdom,

And You gaze upon Your bride.
I will have shown compassion
To Your beloved — for whom you died.

The DNA of Sin

Pride is at the root of our insanity! It fools us into believing that we are the centerpiece of existence; it is at the foundation of all sin. But you were not created for yourself; you were created to glorify God by loving him and being loved by him. One could argue that the DNA of sin is self-obsession. Consider your own sins. Each and every one of them can be traced back to self-absorption. To be completely honest, even your best deeds are tainted by selfish motivation. We often do good deeds so that others will notice us. We only love when it serves our interests.

John Calvin once referred to men’s hearts as “idol-making factories,” and we ourselves are the chief idols. We exalt ourselves, and we desperately search for anything that might serve our purposes. In their book Holding Hands and Holding Hearts, Richard and Sharon Phillips explain:

We are all worshipers, and whatever we worship we rely upon and serve. For many men, success is the god they worship and serve. For others, it is fame or pleasure. Women often worship beauty or falling in love. Whatever it is, we worship it because we think it will make our lives work. It will secure us against a hostile world, it will give us satisfaction — in short, it will be our Savior.

Scripture calls upon us to worship and serve the Lord with all of our heart, yet each of us is plagued by a desire to “worship and serve created things rather than our Creator” (Rom 1:25). We look for anything — other than God — to fill the gaping holes in our fallen lives. Ask yourself: “What petty aspects of your life receive more attention than does your God?” Sadly, if you are like most people, then you will have a lengthy list of “created things” that trump God.

Why are men so prone to idolatry? Quite simply, we will chase after anything and everything that might provide us a moment’s pleasure without requiring us to answer to an authority greater than ourselves. The Lord openly demands nothing less than our lives, but idolatry tricks us into believing that we can be the masters of our own existence. When a man is guilty of idolatry, the object of his pursuit inevitably becomes his master.

Idolatry leads us to fill our calendars, empty our wallets, and pour out our souls in search of the world’s empty affections, but such affections never fully satisfy us. Nevertheless, we continue to devote our hearts to any vice or promise that might exalt us or fill our heart for even a moment. Meanwhile, we have completely ignored the God who has promised us far greater than we could ever ask or imagine (Eph 3:20). At the end of an idolatrous life, man has not only offended God, but his self-imposed independence has left him empty, alone, and spiritually impoverished.

All men are guilty of such treason against God. The Lord has lavished man with love and goodness. In return, we remain openly rebellious. Surely God would be justified in pouring out His wrath upon us. In his book, The Supremacy of God, John Piper wrote, “In our proud love affair with ourselves we pour contempt…on the worth of God’s glory. As our pride pours contempt upon God’s glory, His righteousness obliges Him to pour wrath upon our pride.” 

The wise King Solomon warned his sons that “pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov 16:18).

Wicked Shepherds and the Hope of Bethlehem

Jesus declared, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me — just as the Father knows me and I know the Father — and I lay down my life for the sheep” (Jn. 10:14-15). In today’s culture, it is unlikely that we know many shepherds. However, of all the professions in the Bible, one quick survey through the Scriptures reveals that God has a very special place in his heart for shepherds.

Ø  Abel, who was murdered by his brother Cain, was a shepherd (Gen. 4:2).
Ø  Abraham, the father of our faith, was a shepherd (Gen 13:5).
Ø  Isaac, the son of promise, was a shepherd (Gen. 26:14).
Ø  Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, was a shepherd (Gen. 30:32).
Ø  Each of Jacob’s sons — including Joseph and Judah — worked as shepherds (Gen. 47:3).
Ø  Moses, the great deliverer and prophet of the Old Testament, worked as a shepherd (Exod. 3:1).
Ø  David, the great king of the Old Testament, was a lowly shepherd boy (1 Sam. 16:11).
Ø  Other notable shepherds include the prophet Amos (Amos 1:1), Rachel (Gen. 29:6), and the shepherds (Luke 2:15) who heralded the coming of baby Jesus.

When we consider the list of notable figures who worked as shepherds in the Old Testament, it would be easy to assume that shepherding was a very noble calling. Yet nothing could be further from the truth! By Faith, the official magazine of the Presbyterian Church in America, published an article explaining:

Next to lepers, shepherds were the biggest nobodies in Israel. Shepherds were denied basic civil rights. They were not permitted to testify in court, because it was assumed that all shepherds were dishonest. They were not allowed access to the temple.

Likewise, the authors of the New American Commentary offer this cautionary advice:

One should not romanticize the occupation of shepherds. In general shepherds were dishonest and unclean according to the standards of the law. They represent the outcasts and sinners for whom Jesus came.

In studying the history of this profession, it becomes obvious that the Gentile cultures also held shepherds in low esteem. For example, according to Greek mythology, Hermes was the patron god of thieves, merchants, and shepherds. Apparently, the Greeks also found these professions to be compatible. In the thirteenth century, the Germans coined the word “crook” to denote the curved shepherd’s staff that was used to hook the back legs of stray lambs. In time, this word crook was used to identify dishonest thieves.

While many notable figures in the Bible were shepherds, the Bible invests much more ink in addressing the great wickedness of Israel’s spiritual shepherds. When Jesus calls himself the “good shepherd,” he is distinguishing himself from the typical shepherds of Israel — the bad shepherds.

The shepherds of Israel regularly used their positions to exploit the people. Read through Ezekiel 34. The shepherd’s wickedness infuriated the Lord. These so-called shepherds would “only take care of themselves” (Ezek. 34:2). In his indictment against them, God declares, “You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally” (Ezek 34:4). Isaiah condemned these leaders for leaving Israel as “sheep without a shepherd” (Is. 13:14). Jeremiah condemned them for “destroying and scattering the sheep” (Jer. 23:1). Zechariah wrote that God’s “anger is hot against the shepherds” (Zech. 10:3). Thankfully, God does not leave us to these shepherds. The Bible repeatedly refers to the Lord as our shepherd. Isaiah declared, “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart” (Is. 40:11). And the Lord promised, “I will rescue my flock” (Ezek. 34:8).

When God becomes flesh and enters the world, he does so in a remarkably beautiful manner! The book of Micah contains one of the most famous messianic prophecies, regarding the birth of Jesus. God declared:

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth… And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace… (Micah 5:2-5).

This prophecy proved true. Our “good shepherd” was born into the most humble of circumstances. The lowly town of Bethlehem could not make room for its Creator. At his birth, he was not placed into a crib worthy of God, but a feedbox for animals. He was not welcomed into a palace worthy of kings, but a darkened cave used to shelter livestock. The first smells experienced by Jesus were polluted by the excrement of animals. And the first witnesses of the divine Messiah were lowly shepherds.

When God selected a worship team to honor his newborn son, he did not seek out priests or prophets, but shepherds — the outcasts of Israel. Imagine the surprise of these shepherds when the Lord honored them as the first witnesses of the Messiah! Surely these shepherds were familiar with rejection, but God chose to reveal his glory to them — assuring them that the good news of Jesus was “for all the people.” These shepherds — along with famous prophets like Moses and Ezekiel — were included among a select few in all of redemptive history who were privileged to witness the brilliant glory of God.

While this offers us a beautiful picture of God’s love for outcasts, the selection of these particular shepherds was far more profound! According to the Mishna, the sacrificial animals slaughtered in Jerusalem’s temple to atone for sin were actually raised up in the nearby pastures of Bethlehem. In his book Sketches of Jewish Social Life in the Days of Christ, Alfred Adersheim explains: 

On the night in which our Savior was born, the angels’ message came to those who were “keeping watch.” For close by Bethlehem, on the road to Jerusalem, was a tower, known as Migdal Eder, the “watchtower of the flock.” For here was the station where shepherds watched the flocks destined for sacrifices in the Temple…. Those shepherds who first heard tidings of the Savior’s birth, who first listened to angels’ praises, were watching flocks destined to be offered as sacrifices in the Temple. 

These lowly shepherds were sent to Jesus — the “lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (Jn. 1:29). The Lamb of God was born in a stable reserved for animals destined to be slaughtered, and it was not blind chance that led God to choose these “watching shepherds.” Jesus referred to himself as the “bread of life” and the “good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.” It was no small coincidence that Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem and placed into a feeding trough for the flocks. Israel’s Messianic King was born in the very fields where Israel’s great king David tended his flocks. The Lord, who is sovereign over all of history, was preaching a message in the nativity story.

The town of Bethlehem was the perfect intersection for Jesus birthplace. Bethlehem was known as a house of bread, and Jesus was our Bread of Life. It was a place for shepherds, and Jesus is our Good Shepherd. Its fields nourished the lambs that were to be slaughtered for sin, and Jesus came as the Lamb of God. It was the dwelling place of kinsmen redeemers (i.e., Boaz), and Jesus came to pay our debts. Lastly, Bethlehem was the birthplace of kings! And Christ is our king!

How Are We to Understand Sin?

Sin is technically defined as a “transgression of the law of God.” These transgressions can be divided into two categories — doing what God forbids (sins of commission) or failing to do what God commands (sins of omission). Sin has also been defined as any failure to conform to the moral character of God. Mankind is commanded to be holy just as the Lord is holy. Indeed we were created in the moral image of God. Thus, we are expected to maintain that perfect image.

By God’s standard, we are all lost. Sadly, most people fail to recognize this desperate condition, because they choose to compare themselves to other fallen people. A drug addict would never recognize the tragic depths of his lifestyle if he were only comparing himself to other addicts. The only way to open the eyes of an addict is to make him realize the destructive nature of his addiction as compared to a healthy lifestyle of sobriety.

As John Piper, the famous Baptist pastor and author, rightly noted:

The terrible condition of man’s heart will never be recognized by people who assess it only in relation to other men…. Depravity is our condition in relation to God… Unless we start here we will never grasp the totality of our natural depravity.”

Our condition is far worse than a mere spiritual sickness. The Scripture declares that “you were dead in your transgressions and sins” (Eph 2:1), and so long as you remain saturated by your sins, you will remain spiritually dead before a God who cannot and will not tolerate sin.

In the modern era, many people consider the concept of “sin” archaic or outdated. Sadly, some Christians, even pastors, shrink from even mentioning the word — fearing that it might offend people. These pastors would rather encourage their congregations without making anyone uncomfortable. However, sin is an essential component of the gospel message. If we ignore it, then we strip the gospel of its purpose and power. It would be foolish to expect a man to worship Jesus as his Savior while simultaneously pretending that he has no sins from which to be saved.

On the other extreme, we find churches that actually embrace sinful behaviors. These churches choose to ignore the holiness of God. Instead, they actually invent their own version of god with few moral standards. Such churches teach their members that God is not bothered by sinful actions like abortion, divorce, homosexuality, or premarital sex.

Both of these approaches are wrong, and neither will bring men into conformity with Christ. 

Sin: A Personal Betrayal of God

It is easy to assign a technical definition to sin, but we must never forget that sin constitutes nothing less than a personal betrayal of God. The Lord has freely offered us citizenship as adopted sons in His heavenly Kingdom, yet the brazen sinner rejects His kindness and attempts to establish His own kingdom on earth. Such a person seeks whatever is right in his own eyes, and each of his actions is an individual declaration of rebellion leveled against the throne of God.

There is no such thing as moral neutrality. Each and every moral decision evokes a pledge of allegiance from us. Either we are aligned with the eternal kingdom of God, or we are striving to build our own petty kingdoms on earth.

An evil man is bent only on rebellion… (Prov 17:11).

This rebellion does not typically advertise itself with banners or bumper stickers. Rather it is demonstrated by the mundane decisions that place selfish desires above God’s commands. Examine yourself. How do you spend your time, talent, and treasure in this life? Do you engage in any habitual behavior that you know is displeasing to the Lord? Do you find it easy to lie when it serves your purposes? How often are you willing to compromise virtue for pleasure?

Such rebellion may not seem like a defiant shout in God’s face, but it is, nevertheless, an intentional rejection of His lordship over your life. There is no insignificant disobedience in our relationship with God. John Bunyan once wrote, “Sin is the dare of God’s justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, [and] the contempt of His love!”

It would be nothing short of pure insanity for any finite and fallen man to believe he could withstand or overtake the infinite God of heaven. However, if you find yourself shrugging at the calloused nature of your heart, then you are on track to join the millions of people intoxicated by their own pride, who continue to arrogantly march onward toward the cliffs of eternity!

Such men foolishly believe that they are self-sufficient apart from God, because they are only seeking security in worldly achievements — money, fame, friendships, popularity, sex, or even grades. Meanwhile, they ignore their eternal condition. To such people, the Lord will declare, “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (Rev 3:17).

Likewise, the prophet Jeremiah warned:

Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord (Jer 17:5-7).

Those who would rather sin than submit will always brush God aside. Tragically, these rebellious men will ultimately achieve their wish of existing apart from the nurturing presence of God. In his book The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis explained, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in hell, choose it.”

Mankind: Good or Bad?

Do you believe that mankind is basically good, or do you believe that man is intrinsically sinful? If you are not sure, then just answer the following questions:

• Do you leave cash unattended in the plain sight of others?
• Do you leave your doors unlocked while on vacation?
• Do you feel safe walking through unfamiliar neighborhoods at night?
• Do you feel comfortable picking up stranded motorists?

If you answered “no” to any of these questions, then you have an instinctive distrust of mankind. It is quite likely that you have reached these conclusions based on personal experiences, and you are not alone. Few people in our society are willing to blindly trust their fellow man.

In his book Basic Christianity, John Stott, a famous Anglican clergyman, pointed out the evidences of man’s sinful nature and our societal distrust of each other: 

Much that we take for granted in a civilized society is based upon the assumption of human sin. Nearly all legislation has grown up because human beings cannot be trusted to settle their own disputes with justice and without self-interest. A promise is not enough; we need a contract. Doors are not enough; we have to lock and bolt them. The payment of fares is not enough; tickets have to be issued, inspected and collected. Law and order are not enough; we need the police to enforce them. All this is due to man’s sin. We cannot trust each other. We need protection against one another. It is a terrible indictment of human nature.

All of society testifies to the fact that men are natural-born sinners. Our stores have security cameras. Our homes have burglar alarms. Our airports have metal detectors. Our computers are equipped with passwords, virus protections, and identity safeguards. Our nation’s best schools — even Christian schools — have lockers secured by secret combinations.

Despite the abundance of evidence testifying of man’s sinful nature, one nationwide poll found that more than seventy percent of American Evangelicals believe that mankind is basically good. This widespread belief stands in stark contrast to the biblical view of man.

The Biblical Verdict on the Nature of Man 

The Bible is absolutely clear in its verdict on man’s moral and spiritual condition.

There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one (Rom 3:10-12).

This particular conclusion about mankind is not an isolated anomaly in Scripture. To the contrary, the Bible consistently makes this claim throughout both Old and New Testaments. Jesus Himself proclaimed, “No one is good, except God alone” (Luke 18:19). Scripture tells us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23), and “there is no one who does not sin” (2 Chron 6:36). King Solomon concluded, “There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins” (Eccles 7:20). The Psalmist declared, “No one living is righteous before [God]” (Psalm 143:2), and he asked, “If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins… who could stand?” (Psalm 130:3). Quite frankly, no one could stand before God by his own merit, because our God will not tolerate sin.

You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell. The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong (Psalm 5:4-5).

The Lord is infinitely holy. He sets a standard of perfection, and He demands our conformity to it. In fact, it is God’s holiness that makes it so critically important for us to understand the nature of our sin. In his book God in the Wasteland, Dr. David Wells wrote, “Without the holiness of God, sin has no meaning and grace has no point.”

Part IX - God is Jealous for You

A God Who Pursues His People

Despite our knowledge of God’s unrelenting love, we are all too quick to offer our love and devotion to every conceivable idol that might please us for a moment, and we forsake our God.

The Lord is infinite in size, power, and holiness, yet He also sets His affections upon us. He is not indifferent or calloused to our idolatrous hearts, nor has He washed His hands of mankind. Instead, He perseveres in His love for us, and He is jealous of our affections.

Nevertheless, man has a natural inclination to flee from God — clinging to the empty pleasures and powerless idols of a fallen world. Though the Lord pursues us, He will not share our affections with petty idols — whether these idols come in the form of mythical gods, golden statues, or worldly pursuits. He alone is worthy of our praise, honor, and glory.

Atop Mount Sinai, God commanded Moses: “Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Exod 34:14). Some may ask how the sovereign God of the universe could possibly experience jealousy over man’s affections.

The Scriptures reveal that God’s jealousy is compelled by both His love and holiness.

God is jealous over us, because He loves us. A truly loving husband could never callously shrug at his wife’s wayward affections. Instead, he demands that she be faithful to Him. Covenantal love requires jealousy. God’s jealousy over mankind’s affections led Him to endure the Cross.

God is also jealous over us, because of His holiness. He demands that His creation be restored to its original status, which was “very good.” We must realize that the supremacy of God above all other things is so firmly established that He has a right to demand our affection.

The jealousy of God could be compared to the gravitational pull of the sun. The earth’s survival absolutely depends upon the sun’s unrelenting gravity. No one questions the sun’s right to draw the entire solar system to itself. After all, the sun is awesome in magnitude and glorious in power. If its gravitational force ever failed, then the earth and its inhabitants would be slung off of its orbit into a perilously dark universe. Everyone and everything would quickly perish. 

The jealousy of God, which seeks to pull the hearts of men to Himself, functions in much the same way. He is awesome in magnitude and glorious in power. He jealously pursues His people and draws them into the pathway of life. But if His jealousy over mankind’s affections was ever extinguished, then we too would be lost forever into a dark and perilous fate. Thankfully, God refuses to surrender our fates to eternal darkness.

Part VIII - God is Matchless

A God without Rivals

If we are to receive the bountiful grace of God, then we must turn our devotion entirely to Him.

In the ancient world, monotheism (belief in one God) was extremely rare. Virtually all other nations besides Israel were polytheistic (belief in multiple gods), and each of these gods supposedly reigned over the various categories of life — ranging from wisdom and war to fertility and farming. However, God refuses to share the throne with such powerless idols.

One of the most important themes of Scripture is God’s unrelenting battle against idolatry in all its forms. The Bible is filled with showdowns between the God of Israel and man’s false idols.

Consider God’s campaign against the idols of Egypt. Prior to the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt with Moses, God unleashed ten plagues upon the land of Egypt. These plagues sought to prove that the various gods of Egypt were utterly powerless.

“I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt” (Exodus 12:12).

The first plague transformed the Nile River into blood. In that day, the Egyptians believed that the Nile River was the bloodstream of Osiris (the god of the afterlife). What message would the Egyptians have received when the river of blood began to stink and rot? Osiris is dead, and he cannot save you! Each of the plagues continues to prove the powerlessness of the Egyptian gods.

These plagues were not driven by cruelty, but rather God’s desire to demonstrate His power to men. As the Israelites were desperately blocked by the shores of the Red Sea, the Lord declared:

I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord (Exod 14:4).

At their core, the marvelous works of God were evangelistic — even His plagues! After the exodus, the world began to hear about the matchless power of Israel’s God. The Lord had proven Himself greater than the greatest gods of the greatest empire of the ancient world. After being delivered from the armies of Pharaoh, Moses penned a song of praise. The Lord loved this particular song so much that it will be sung in heaven for all eternity (Rev 15:3).

In this song of praise, Moses asks:

Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you — majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? (Exod 15:11) 

Indeed, there is none like our God. He stands alone worthy of praise and adoration. He wages war against the idols of men that subvert our relationship with Him. Countless conversions to faith occur only after a person has been stripped of every worldly comfort. Often times, God uses tragedy or crisis to call His people to Himself. He is showing our idols to be powerless. Only then, when all idols are defeated, will a person surrender to the unrelenting pursuit of God.

Part VII - The Justice of God

God is Just: A God of Perfect Justice

Those who fail to achieve the standard of perfect holiness that God has demanded of us will be left to face the perfect justice of God. Without exception, the Scriptures demand that all sin must be punished, because our God is absolutely just. Scripture tells us that “the Lord is righteous” and “he loves justice” (Psalm 11:7). On the day of judgment, we are told that “the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience…” (Col 3:6).

One nationwide poll found that only 59 percent of Americans now believe in hell.[i] The Christian cannot deny the existence of hell. Jesus spoke more about hell than Heaven. He described it as an “eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt 25:41) — a place where the “worm never dies” and the “fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48). In describing the judgment of wicked men, Jesus spoke about the terrible sounds of “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt 13:50).

In the book of Revelation, John’s vision of the Apocalypse revealed that “if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev 20:15).

The idea of judgment does not sit well in today’s culture. Many people wrongly ascribe blind forgiveness to God — as if He will simply ignore the wickedness of our sinful past and nullify the requirements of His perfect justice. However, this is absolutely wrong! The Lord cannot leave the scales of His justice unbalanced. Otherwise, He would cease to be just. It would make a mockery of God’s Law if He habitually acquitted the guilty. If God is to be just, He must uphold the Law.

The Bible assures us that “He does not leave the guilty unpunished” (Exod 34:7). He cannot, because “righteousness and justice are the foundation of [His] throne” (Psalm 89:14).

The thought of God’s wrath and perfect justice is terrifying. Even Jesus quaked with fearful anguish at the prospect of drinking the cup of God’s wrath (Luke 22:42). But unlike Jesus, there are none who can claim to have lived a life of moral perfection. The Lord Almighty, who knows every evil word, thought, and deed of man, will pour forth His furious displeasure upon those who have rejected His Word and mocked His counsel.

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life (Gal 6:7-8).

As we have seen in previous chapters, we all fail to respect the moral absolutes of God in some way. All too often, we attempt to bring God’s holy standards down to a human level, so that we can justify ourselves. When we are measured against the corruptions of our fellow human beings, many of us would indeed seem “good.” However, man is not our standard. The God of absolute moral perfection is our standard, and we are called to “be holy as God is holy."

When men stand before the throne of God, they will not be entitled to challenge God’s holy standards of justice. When a person casts aside the moral law of God as archaic or extreme, they are challenging the very holiness of God Himself — as if God has erred in His judgment. The Lord once rebuked Job: “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? ... Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?” (Job 40:2, 8).

God is perfectly just and will not leave sin unpunished, yet He earnestly desires the salvation of His people. This creates a great dilemma, for which Jesus Christ is the only solution.

The prophet Isaiah wrote about a Messiah who would satisfy God’s justice for the sake of men.

He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isa 53:5-6).

The Bible tells us that the “wages of sin in death,” and the good news of the gospel pronounces that Jesus Christ has taken our wages upon Himself. Jesus Christ endured this fierce justice of God and clothed us in His own perfect righteousness, so that we can stand holy before the Lord.

This is the measurement of God’s love for His people, but it was not cheap. The satisfaction of God’s perfect justice came at the ultimate cost — the agonizing death of His only begotten Son. He came to pay a debt that He did not owe, because we had a debt that we could not pay.

God’s forgiveness is never free; our sins are always punished. As He has promised, God will pour out His wrath in the punishment of every sin. Only one question remains: who will pay the penalties of your sin? Your sins were either paid for on the Cross, or they remain to be punished.

The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him. (John 3:35-36). 

Faith alone in Christ alone is the only source of hope for a desperately fallen mankind. No man is perfect, nor can we restore our own holiness. Christ alone clothes men with the holiness necessary to stand in the presence of our holy God.

Part VII - A God of Infinite Holiness

God is Holy: A God of Radical Goodness

Nature and science can provide us with a small glimpse into God’s power and magnitude. However, the size and power of God tell us little about His character. It would be a terrible thing if such power and size were in the hands of a cruel God. Thankfully, the Scriptures inform us that this omnipresent and omnipotent God is also infinite in His goodness. He is radically holy!

Holiness is perhaps God’s most important attribute. In fact, the words “holy” or “holiness” occur more than 900 times in the Bible. It is this trait that mesmerizes all who encounter the Lord. The angels of heaven are perfectly pure, yet even the angels cover their faces at God’s throne. In fact, these glorious creatures are so awestruck by God’s holiness that they forever sing to each other: “Holy, holy, holy is the God Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isa 6:3).

Holiness has been defined as “purity” or being completely “set apart” from the world. However, holiness is far more than simple purity. God is most certainly pure, but it would be wrong to limit the beauty of God’s holiness to the simple absence of sin. God’s holiness is far more than that. His holiness is a penetrating and powerful force. It is infinite goodness. It is not merely the absence of sin; rather it is an all-out, unrelenting, inexhaustible desire to destroy sin and darkness.

God’s holiness is like light. Scripture even tells us that “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). It would be wrong to define light as the mere absence of darkness. It is far more than that. Light has a form. It moves. It illuminates. It creates beauty and color. It always triumphs over darkness. Darkness, on the other hand, can be defined as the absence of light. It is empty, formless, lifeless, dreadful, and stagnant. Darkness is idle; but light is radiant and active.

“From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth” (Psalm 50:2).

Jonathan Edwards, the famous preacher of the Great Awakening, once said, “A true love to God must begin with a delight in his holiness, and not with a delight in any other attribute; for no other attribute is truly lovely without this.”

It is God’s holiness that sets Him apart from the world. It makes Him different from everything else in a way that makes Him superior to everything else. He is in a class by himself. He has no threatening rivals. He is the one and only true God. He alone is holy (Rev 15:4).

A.W. Tozer, the popular Christian author of the 20^th century, explained:

We cannot grasp the true meaning of the divine holiness by thinking of someone or something very pure and then raising the concept to the highest degree we are capable of. God’s holiness is not simply the best we know infinitely bettered. We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible and unattainable… Holy is the way God is. To be holy, He does not conform to a standard. He is that standard.

It is this incomprehensible holiness that causes fear to consume the hearts of all who are confronted by the Lord, who is “a consuming fire” (Deut 4:24). The Scripture tells us that “it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God” (Heb 10:31).

God Requires Holiness from Men

If you have ever been caught red-handed in the midst of a shameful act, then you know that your shame is only magnified when the witness of your sin is a person of great holiness. Just imagine being confronted by the One who exudes infinite holiness. Even the greatest heroes of Scripture suffered dread when confronted by God’s veiled holiness. Consider the following examples:

• After the Fall, Adam hid from God and admitted that he was “afraid” of His presence.
• Upon encountering the Lord, “Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.”
• The Israelites cried out to Moses, “Let not God speak with us, lest we die.”
• God told Moses, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.”
• The Psalmist wrote, “My flesh trembles in fear of You...”
• Isaiah declared, “Woe is me, for I am undone…for my eyes have seen the King.”
• When Daniel’s men saw the Lord, “a great terror fell upon them…”
• Daniel said: “No strength remained in me; for my vigor was turned to frailty in me.”
• When the Lord appeared to the Bethlehem shepherds, “they were terribly frightened.”
• Peter begged Jesus, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
• When Saul was confronted by Christ, he fell to the ground “trembling and astonished."
• Peter, James, and John “fell on their faces and were greatly afraid."
• In John’s vision, he wrote, “And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.”

If such men were unable to withstand the veiled holiness of God without trembling in terror and shame, then it would be foolish to assume that anyone stained by sin could find peace in the presence of God’s unveiled and unrestrained holiness. Even if they were permitted to enter the presence of God, heaven would quickly become like hell for those who choose to remain in their sins. The holiness of God is simply too intense. He cannot tolerate even the slightest of sins. God “cannot tolerate wrong,” and His “eyes are too pure to look on evil” (Hab 1:12-13).

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish (Psalm 1:5-6).

Unfortunately, few people consider righteousness or holiness to be an important quality in this life. In his book Be Holy, famous biblical commentator Warren Wiersbe wrote:

Happiness, not holiness, is the chief pursuit of most people today, including many professed Christians. They want Jesus to solve their problems and carry their burdens, but they don’t want Him to control their lives and change their character. It doesn’t disturb them that eight times in the Bible, God said to His people, “Be holy, for I am holy,” and He means it. 

Holiness is not an Old Testament standard that can now be dismissed. Jesus commanded his followers in his Sermon on the Mount: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48). All of Scripture teaches that holiness is essential to the Christian life. In fact, the New Testament tells us that “without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Heb 12:14). It is this attribute that makes the gospel both necessary and precious. You can never meet the requirements of God. But as we will see, Christ has clothed us in his perfect righteousness.

Part VI - What God's Power Means for You

Properly Defining God’s Omnipotence 

The Christian should be careful when defining God’s omnipotence. While God is powerful enough to do all things, His omnipotence is constrained by His perfect wisdom. For example, the Scriptures tell us that He cannot deny His own will; He cannot lie; He cannot sin; He cannot be deceived; and He cannot die. In other words, God’s power is channeled by His wisdom.

Some are quick to claim that such limitations disprove His omnipotence. However, it is important to realize that the exact opposite is true. If God were to yield to such petty requests, then He would cease to be omnipotent. If He died, then He would forfeit His eternal nature. If He lied, then He would no longer remain truthful. If He were to sin, then He would no longer be holy. If He were to be deceived, then He would part with His omniscience. Common sense dictates that an omnipotent God cannot surrender His omnipotence, or He ceases to be omnipotent.

Instead, God’s perfect wisdom guides Him down the path of ultimate omnipotence. He cannot fall into the snares that would render Him impotent. These self-imposed limitations do not nullify His omnipotence; they magnify it. For He always chooses the right path.

In his theological masterpiece, The City of God, Saint Augustine wrote, “He is called omnipotent on account of His doing what He wills, not on account of His suffering what He wills not; for if that should befall Him, He would by no means be omnipotent. Wherefore, He cannot do some things for the very reason that He is omnipotent."

Trusting the Omnipotent God 

If God created the heavens by the word of His mouth and maintains a precise order in all of creation — both great and small — then God was surely capable of performing the great miracles of Scripture. We can trust in God’s Word, because He is absolutely truthful. The Scriptures tell us that God “does not lie” (Tit 1:2). In fact, “it is impossible for Him to lie” (Heb 6:18). 

We should not balk at claiming that our Lord was born of a virgin; He healed the blind; He cast out demons; He turned water into wine; He walked on water; He commanded the storms; He resurrected the dead; He lived a perfect life; and ultimately He conquered sin and death!

The omnipotence of God should be a great comfort to His people. Most Christians will acknowledge that God created billions of galaxies in an instant. Sadly, many of these same people hesitate to believe that this omnipotent God is personally invested in their day-to-day lives. This same God still works miracles. He still hears our prayers, and He still comforts the afflicted.

The Psalmist declared, “Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases” (Psalm 115:3).

If God does whatever He pleases, then we should be eager to learn what pleases the Lord. The Scriptures provides us with the answers. For example, even before the creation of the world, the Lord “predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will” (Eph 1:4-5). In other words, your redemption brings great pleasure to God.

Consider the weight of this statement. You were selected by God — for His own pleasure — before the first atom of creation was spoken into existence. Our Father in Heaven set His desire to adopt you as His beloved child before He hung the stars into place! By the Lord’s own admission, your redemption is His pleasure. If we stand with confidence in God’s amazing power, then we, like the Apostle Paul, can boldly ask, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31). If the omnipotent God of the universe has promised to defend us, then whom shall we fear? 

John Piper, bestselling author and Baptist minister, once said:

The omnipotence of God means eternal, unshakable refuge in the everlasting glory of God no matter what happens on this earth. And that confidence is the power of radical obedience to the call of God. Is there anything more freeing, more thrilling, or more strengthening than the truth that God Almighty is your refuge — all day every day in all the ordinary and extraordinary experiences of life?

We can stand in the same confidence as Job, who declared, “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2). We need not fear the seemingly hopeless situations, because Jesus has declared that “with God all things are possible” (Matt 19:26).

The Omnipotent God Is With You

We need not be anxious, for God declares: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isa 41:10). In Scripture, this all-powerful God has repeatedly promised to be with you.

When Moses was commanded to confront Pharaoh and demand the release of the Israelites, he feared that the mission was a death sentence. Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” God did not offer detailed explanations to calm Moses’ fears. He simply replied, “I will be with you” (Exod 3:11-12), and God was enough. 

Like Moses, Christians have been called to play a role in the liberation of God’s people from a spiritual bondage. Just as the omnipotent God promised Moses that He would be with him, Jesus promises us: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me…. Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt 28:20). Jesus Christ will be enough!