(Continued from page 271.) Chapter 1 :1-4.
The apostle Paul tells us that God dwells in light-unapproachable light (i Tim. 6:16). He is the invisible God (Col. i:15; i Tim. i:17; Heb. ii:27). No man has ever seen Him. It is not possible for man to see God in His essential Godhead. Man's constitution makes him able to see only what is within the range of his vision-not the invisible.
Even angels, who by creation are nearer to God than man, have not seen and cannot see that essential glory of God in which He is alone, and which is known only by the three persons in the one Godhead. The apostle Paul tells us that angels are dependent on God coming out of the unapproachable light in which He dwells to display "the riches of His grace " and His " manifold wisdom " to acquire the knowledge of them (Eph. 2:7; 3:10). Surely, if they have not this knowledge instinctively, and can only have it through a revelation of it, a display of it, then certainly they do not know the fathomless depths of the being of God-what He is in Godhead essence-what He alone is and cannot share with another.
God, dwelling in the unapproachable light, is Father, Son and Holy Spirit; a community of essence, a community of moral nature and character, a community of life both in principle and continuous activity – a community of fellowship peculiar to themselves, known only to themselves and enjoyed only by themselves; and that jointly and co-equally. It is an eternal fellowship, abiding, unchangeably the same from everlasting to everlasting, an eternally mutual and reciprocal fellowship.
It is evident that the purpose to reveal Himself was ever in the mind of God. He designed ways of displaying Himself. This, however, needs to be guarded. God never planned to reveal His Godhead essence. In this He is, and must forever be alone. He cannot communicate His Godhead essence to any other. If this could be, He would cease to be absolutely God alone; but created beings can never become uncreated, self-existing ones, whether they be men or angels.
What then was His purpose ? It was to make known His moral nature and character and the blessedness-the happiness-of the life He lives. It was as to this that He designed to bring others into community with Himself-a community not of being, but of moral nature and of life. To do this, to carry out this purpose, it was necessary for Him to come out from the unapproachable light in which He dwells alone. This He did when He came forth in the exercise of the creatorial power inherent in Himself. In the creation which He has produced He has clothed Himself "with light as with a garment "(Ps. 104:2). But God looked at in the light of creation is not seen in His moral nature and life. Creation manifests " His eternal power and divinity" (Rom. i :20, Greek). It proclaims the power and divinity that was eternally in Him, but not what He is in moral nature and character and continuous activity.
God comes out of the light in which He dwells to exercise His providential care over His creatures.
He cares for every sparrow. It has but little value in the eyes of men, but not one falls to the ground without His notice. He does not forget one of them (Matt. 10:29; Luke 12 :6). He " maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just, and on the unjust" (Matt. 5:45). He opens His hand, the desire of every living thing is satisfied (Ps. 145 :16). The least need of the least of His creatures is provided for, and the supply is superabundant. But if, on the one hand, God witnesses to Himself in giving by sun and rain and other forces " fruitful seasons," filling men's "hearts with food and gladness" (Acts 14:17); on the other hand, by "sweeping rain" (Prov. 28:3) and the burning heat of the sun, He destroys the food of both man and beast (Jas. i:11).
If we look at God in the light of His providential care for His creatures, we find mysteries that care does not solve. Questions arise that it does not answer. We look there in vain for the revelation of God's moral nature and character, and the manifestation of the life He lives.
If we turn to His governmental ways with men, both with individuals and nations, as publicly exercised, we fail to learn our lesson if we do not realize that we are studying ways that proclaim the sovereign Ruler of the universe to be in a pre-eminent sense a moral Being. His moral nature is plainly manifested in His moral government, but how inscrutable are these ways! How past finding out (Rom. 11:33)! To our finite minds there are contradictions which seem irreconcilable. The mystery of it is to us impenetrable. He acts sovereignly, does His own will, and " giveth not account of any of His matters" (Job 33:13). We wonder at His silence when evil insolently lifts up its head. We tremble in the presence of His punishments of it. We see Him putting limits to the operation of evil and ask, Why then does He permit it at all ? If, on the one hand, God "doeth according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou ? " (Dan. 4:35); and, on the other hand, tolerates sin, allows it to go on unrebuked, at times seems to be indifferent to it and exposes Himself to the charge of seeming acquiescence-in it; where is the line of demarcation between His abhorrence and His sufferance of it?
Looking at God in the light of His moral government, we reach certain conclusions as to His moral nature and character, and up to a certain point our conclusions are correct, but beyond that point there is felt to be a need of fuller light.
The same is true also with regard to God's special government of His own people. Any observer of the governmental ways of God with His own children, both individually and collectively, will readily see that He warns them against disobedience, threatens them with penalties, and in case of disobedience often visits them with severe punishments. On the other hand there is often apparent indulgence. There is indeed patience, long-suffering with their manners, and what seems like indifference. We see here, too, God exposing Himself to implications which upright souls feel cannot be true of Him; yet the mystery of it is not explained until God is seen in a fuller light.
God came forth from the unapproachable light to make known His law-His demands on man, what He requires of him as standing on his own responsibility ; but He did not manifest Himself. He surrounded Himself with "a thick cloud" (Ex 19:9). He spoke out of "fire and smoke" (ver. 18) and "thick darkness " (Deut, 4:11). There was a display of majesty, power and authority. So great was the tempest and the quaking of the mount that the people trembled, and Moses himself feared exceedingly (Heb. 12:21). Even on the occasion of the second giving of the law, though not accompanied with such terrible manifestations, there was still reserve and distance. When Moses requested to see the glory of God, his request was not granted. He was told, " Thou canst not see My face:for there shall no man see Me, and live " (Ex 33':20) The revelation then given was not of the " face" of God, but His "back parts " (ver. 23). It was not the Light itself in the full power of its shining, manifesting God in the fulness of what He is in moral nature and life, but a ray of the Light, partially revealing the One from whom it was reflected.
God came out of the light in which He dwells directly after Adam's disobedience and fall. He came out to reveal to him the coming of a Man to triumph over Satan and bring life out of death (Gen. 3:15); but, though the revelation was a promise of eternal life (Titus i :2), the life and incorruption of the promise was not illuminated till the giving of another revelation long after (2 Tim. i:10).
By types, by the shadows of the sacrificial system connected with the law, by specially appointed events-events happening by divine intervention and under divine control, God came out of the unapproachable light to give forth rays of what dwells in Himself. These rays, either singly or combined, while telling us something of the character of God, were in no wise a full and adequate revelation of what He is. It was a true revelation, so far, but not the full truth.
God came out of His dwelling-place in light in the promises He made to the fathers. These promises were a revelation to faith of her inheritance and portion ; yet the revelation was incomplete. The promises, however truly implying all that was in God's mind, did not in reality express it all. If the "God of glory " (Acts 7:2) appeared to Abraham, He did not show Abraham all His glory.
So also in prophecy, God came forth out of the light in which He dwells, speaking by the mouth of men who were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. i:21). None of the prophets, however, could say:"We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen " (John 3:11). Only He who came from God could thus speak. The prophets spoke as and when moved by the Spirit, and thus only what was given them to say. Their utterances therefore were always in measure, fragmentary and partial, not the full revelation of the God they served. Old Testament prophecy does not adequately and fully declare what God is. However much it does tell us of Him, it does not make Him known to us in the fulness of His moral nature and life. C. Crain
(To be continued.)