The Divine Nature

 

The Lord said to me…”I will test my people with a Plumbline, Amos 7:8 (TLB)

The Plumbline is a blog to encourage the Body of Christ.

The Divine Nature

There is none like God.

God has no opposite. He is far greater than all He has created. Satan is NOT God’s opposite; only an opponent.

• 2 Samuel 7:22 (NASB) "For this reason you are great, O Lord GOD; for THERE IS NONE LIKE YOU, and there is no God besides You…”

• Isaiah 40:18,21,22a,25. (NKJV) 18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him? 21 Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. 25 "To whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal?" says the Holy One.

God, who cannot be compared to anyone or anything (cf. v. 18; 46:5) knows everything about His Creation and sustains it. In His strength He created and also controls and sustains millions upon millions of stars, each one of which He, amazingly, has named (cf. Ps. 147:4). In Isaiah 40-66, God is frequently referred to as Creator and Maker, probably as a argument against the lifeless idols of Babylon. He created the heavens, the earth, people, Israel, and darkness, and will create the new heavens and new earth.

The Importance of Knowing God

• John 17:3 (NKJV) And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

Eternal life, as defined here by Jesus, involves the experience of knowing the only true God through His Son (cf. Matt. 11:27). It is a personal relationship of intimacy, which is continuous and dynamic. The word know here is in the present tense, is often used in the Septuagint and sometimes in the Greek New Testament to describe the intimacy of a sexual relationship (e.g., Gen 4:1, “lay”; Matt. 1:25, “had... union”). Thus a person who knows God has an intimate personal relationship with Him. And that relationship is eternal, not temporal. Eternal life is not simply endless existence. Everyone will exist somewhere forever (cf. Matt. 25:46), but the question is, In what condition or in what relationship will they spend eternity?

• Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NKJV) 23 Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; 24 But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight," says the LORD.

These verses (vv. 23-24) summarized the response God expected from the people. The people were not to boast in their human wisdom or strength or riches for these would not last. Instead a person should boast only to the extent that he understands and knows God. Again the word “know” pictured an intimate knowledge of God (see comments on 1:5). God wanted the people to be intimately acquainted with His kindness, justice, and righteousness. “Kindness” refers to God’s loyal love (cf. 31:3; 33:11; Lam. 3:22). God would stand by His commitment to His people. “Justice” is a broad term that pointed to governing justly. God would vindicate the innocent and punish the guilty. “Righteousness” conveys the idea of conforming to a standard or norm. God’s standards of conduct were supposed to be Israel’s norm.

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• Philippians 3:10 (NKJV) that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death

This verse contains an open and honest confession to the Philippians. Paul already knew Christ as his Savior. But he wanted to know Him more intimately as his Lord. To know (v. 10) means “to know by experience”. The “surpassing greatness of knowing Christ” is now elaborated in verses 10. This is how Paul wanted to know Him.