DISTINCTION BETWEEN ATTRIBUTES OF BEING AND OF CHARACTER. PERSONALITY. CORPOREALITY. SPIRITUALITY. SELF­ EXISTENCE. ETERNITY. SELF-SUFFICIENCY. IMMORTALITY. INFLUENCE OF THESE SEVEN ATTRIBUTES ON THE DEVOUTLY STUDIOUS. INVISIBILITY. UNITY. OMNIPOTENCE. OMNISCIENCE. OMNIPRESENCE. SUPREMACY. UNFATHOMABLENESS. THEIR LESSONS TO US.

IN OUR first chapter we discussed the existence of God and showed from seven standpoints that there is a God. We mentioned, as implied in some of the proofs there presented, that God is a personal being, who has as His main heart characteristics the qualities of wisdom, power, justice and love. We made no attempt to give details on His attributes, apart from that of existence, which was our subject, because it is our thought to devote later several chapters to a discussion of His attributes. Usually His attributes are set forth from two standpoints—those of His being and those of His character. By His attributes of being are meant those of His qualities which inhere in His nature, like personality, spirituality, eternity, immortality, etc., while by His attributes of character are meant those of His qualities which inhere in His disposition, His heart and mind, like justice, love, mercy, faithfulness, etc. We now set forth in a series of chapters some of the salient features of His attributes: both of being and of character. In this chapter we will discuss His main attributes of being.

Naturally, the first attribute of God's being that strikes the mind of the average thoughtful man is that of God's personality. By personality we mean the quality of being by which one thinks, feels and wills; for personality lodges in the intellect, sensibilities and will. Anything without these does not have personality, and cannot be a person. God has the quality of personality which inheres in Him as a sentient being;

27

28 God.

and He is a person. This quality of God's being immediately enables us to reject: Atheism, which denies God's existence altogether; Agnosticism, which doubts God's existence; Materialism, which denies personality to the first cause; and Pantheism, which confounds God with nature. While discussing the existence of God we proved from reason His personality. This was shown from the arguments drawn from order, design, man's intellectual, moral and religious constitution, our experience and the disproof of Atheism. God's intelligence, beneficence, justice and executiveness are manifest in such proofs of His existence, which therefore prove His personality.

The Scriptures are replete with proofs of God's personality; for they attribute to Him intellectuality, feeling and volition—the essential elements of personality. That He has knowledge is proven by passages like: Josh. 22: 22, "The Lord God of gods … He knoweth"; Is. 44: 8, "Is there a God beside Me? Yea, there is no other God; I know not any"; Job 36: 4, "He is perfect in knowledge"; Ps. 44: 21, "He knoweth the secrets of the heart"; Matt. 6: 8, "Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him"; Luke 16: 15, "God knoweth your hearts"; Acts 15: 18, "Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world"; Rom. 8: 29, "Whom He did foreknow"; 2 Tim. 2: 19, "The Lord knoweth them that are His"; 1 John 3: 20, "God … knoweth all things." That He has sensibilities is proven by passages like: Ps. 103: 13, "The Lord pitieth them that fear Him"; John 16: 27, "The Father Himself loveth you"; Ex. 34: 6, "The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness"; Heb. 11: 5, "He pleased God"; Ps. 30: 4, "Give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness"; Ex. 20: 5, "I … and a jealous God"; Ps. 7: 9, "The righteous God trieth the heart and reins"; 1 Pet. 3: 20, "The longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah"; John 3: 16, "God

God's Attributes of Being. 29

so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son"; Ps. 25: 6, "Remember, O Lord, Thy tender mercies and Thy loving kindnesses." That He exercises volition is evident from passages like Matt. 6: 10, "Thy will be done in earth"; Matt. 7: 21, "He that doeth the will of My Father"; Luke 22: 42, "Not My will, but Thine be done"; Acts 21: 14, "The will of the Lord be done"; Gal. 1: 4, "According to the will of God"; Eph. 1: 11, "All things after the counsel of His own will"; 1 Thes. 4: 3, "This is the will of God—your sanctification; 1 Cor. 12: 11, "Dividing to every man severally as He will"; Heb. 6: 17, "Willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel"; 2 Pet. 3: 9, "The Lord is … not willing that any should perish."

Besides these and numerous other Scriptures which ascribe to God the essential elements of personality— intellectuality, sensibilities and will—there are numerous others that describe Him in terms of personality. Of these we will quote a few: "There is none other like unto the  Lord our God" (Ex. 8: 10); "Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" (Ex. 15: 11); "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me" (Ex. 20: 3; Deut. 5: 7); "Thou shalt worship no other god" (Ex. 34: 14); "The Lord, He is God; there is none else beside Him" (Deut. 4: 35); "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord" (Deut. 6: 4); "The Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords" (Deut. 10: 17); "There is none holy as the Lord" (1 Sam. 2: 2); "Prepare your hearts unto the Lord and serve Him" (1 Sam. 7: 3); "Him shall ye fear, and Him shall ye worship, and to Him shall ye do sacrifice" (2 Kings 17: 36); "Thou hast made heaven and earth" (2 Kings 19: 15); "To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One" (Is. 40: 25); "I am the First and I am the Last; and beside me there is no God" (Is. 44: 6); "There is

30 God.

no God else beside Me, a just God and a Savior" (Is. 45: 21); "The Lord is the true God; He is the living God, and an everlasting King" (Jer. 10: 10); "I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is there anything too hard for Me?" (Jer. 32: 27); "One is your Father, which is in heaven" (Matt. 23: 9); "This is life eternal that they might know Thee the only true God" (John 17: 3); "One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all" (Eph. 4: 6);  "Who being the brightness of His glory, the express image of His person … sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high."—Heb. 1: 3.

It is important from many standpoints for us to emphasize the personality of God, especially against the materialism of certain atheistical and agnostical so-called scientists and the pantheism of certain heathenizing philosophers, which would rob us of a personal God. Belief in, love for, and communion with a personal God are necessary for development of godlikeness. Rob us of a personal God and we are robbed of the Christian faith, hope, love, peace, joy, comfort, self-control, patience, longsuffering, forgiveness and every other Christlike characteristic. Give us a personal God of the characteristics of the Scriptural God, and we are given the power that, used, will create, develop and perfect Christian faith, hope, love, peace, joy, comfort, self-control, patience, longsuffering, forgiveness and every other element of Christlikeness. Sterile in these respects is the life of the denier of a personal God; fruitful in these respects is the  life of a true worshiper of the God of the Bible—the personal Jehovah. Fundamental, therefore, for life and godliness is faith in a personal God. Therefore we have given the first place in God's attributes of being to His personality. Let us hold it at all odds as the prime essential of our religious life.

As the next attribute of God's being we would present that of corporeality. By this we mean that God

God's Attributes of Being. 31

has a body. It is a great mistake to think of God as a great mind without a body. Neither reason nor Scripture gives us such a thought. It originated in the illusive abstractions and speculations of heathen philosophers, especially Greek philosophers, from whom it was borrowed and introduced into the creeds of the dark ages, and has become one of the means of stultifying and mystifying many of God's people in their reasonings on God's being. When we say that the Scriptures teach that God has more than a mind, that additionally He has a body, which implies His having an organism, we do not refer to those Scriptures that are undoubtedly anthropomorphistic, i.e., figuratively ascribe to God the form and parts of man. Rather we refer to statements that literally and definitely connect God with a body. When Jesus said that no man hath at any time seen God's "shape" (John 5: 37), He definitely implies that God has a body. The same thing is implied in God's statement that no man can see Him and live (Ex. 33: 20-23); for this Scripture implies that He can be seen by man, though only with fatal effects to such a beholder. If He can be seen, He must have more than a mind: He must have a body, which implies an organism. This fact is likewise implied in the statement, "God is a spirit" (John 4: 24); for St. Paul definitely tells us that spirit beings have bodies (1 Cor. 15: 44-49). All the Scriptures that speak of heaven as His  abode imply the same thing (Ps. 73: 25; Matt. 5: 16, 45; 6: 9; etc., etc.). So, too, is this apparent from the Scripture (Heb. 1: 3) that tells us that Jesus now is the express image of the Father's person. These Scriptures undoubtedly imply that God has a body.

When we say that God has a body, we of course do not mean that it consists of matter; for such is not the substance of which His body consists. Nor, when we say that His body is an organism, do we mean that His body has all the same organs as ours. From the nature

32 God.

of the case He would have no use for many of the organs that we have. Organs and parts adapted to food, respiration, wastes, blood, etc. (1 Cor. 15: 50), He, of course, does not have, because of His self-existence, these things implying dependence on external things for existence. Because literal Scriptures ascribe corresponding acts to Him, we may reasonably assume that He has organs adapted to sight, sound, smell, touch, work, locomotion; and doubtless He has some organs the like of which we do not have, though of what they consist and like what they are, we do not know, even as St. John assures us with respect to our Lord Jesus' body, which is exactly like God's (Heb. 1: 3): "It hath not yet appeared what we shall be; but when He [Jesus] shall appear we shall be like Him"; because our spiritual bodies will "be fashioned like unto His glorious body" (Phil. 3: 21). Our knowing so little about God's body, like our little knowledge of many other things respecting Him, is largely due on the one hand to His greatness, and, on the other hand, to our littleness; for our plane of being is so far beneath His that we cannot fully comprehend Him—the finite cannot fully grasp the Infinite.

The third attribute of God's being that we would consider is spirituality, i.e., that God is a spirit. The Scriptures teach this by contrast with natural things (Acts 17: 29). Furthermore, they expressly assure us of this in so many words: "God is a spirit" (John 4: 24). And reason assents to the spirituality of the Being who created and preserves the universe and its creatures. God's mode of existence is not that of a being with a flesh and blood or any other kind of a material body; but His mode of existence is that of a spirit being with a spiritual body. When we speak of a spiritual body we mean one that consist of immaterial, spiritual substance or substances. There are material substances such as water, earth, iron, wood, etc., and there are spiritual substances such as vitality, fire,

God's Attributes of Being. 33

light, heat, etc. When we say that God is a spirit we thereby deny that His body consists of material substances (1 Cor. 15: 50); and when we say that He is a spirit we affirm that His body consists of some spiritual substance (1 Cor. 15: 44-49). Seemingly, angels, who are spirits, have bodies that consist of fire (Heb. 1: 7, 14). Perhaps some of the higher orders of spirit beings, like cherubim and seraphim, have bodies that consist of other spiritual substances than fire. The Scriptures do not tell us of the exact nature of that substance of which God's body consists. This same remark applies to our Lord's present body and the bodies of the saints in the first resurrection.

The silence of the Scriptures on the nature of the substance of which God's body consists forbids our being positive on the subject, much more forbids our making a thought that we may have on the subject a doctrine of faith. Without in the least desiring to be understood as being dogmatic on this point, we might say that it would not be at all surprising, if it should turn out that God's body consists of life principle. Our reason for thinking this not unreasonable is the fact that the Bible teaches that God is immortal, i.e., has "life in Himself" (John 5: 26). If His body consists of life principle, it would not like other bodies need life principle as another substance to animate it. He being incorruptible, there is no waste in His body, and of course no replenishment of life would be needed. Hence self-sustained life would be His, if His body consists of life principle. But since we know so little of the possibilities of spiritual substances, we would not be warranted in saying that immortality could not exist in another way than in having a body consisting of life principle. Perhaps it could, for all we know. On this subject, it must be humbly confessed: "We know in part," i.e., our knowledge is piece-meal, partial. We must, therefore, recognize that the nature of the substance of which the Divine body consists is not

34 God.

one of the revealed things. It is one of the secret things that God has kept to Himself. Hence we dare not be dogmatic on the subject. Nevertheless our uncertainty as to the exact kind of spiritual substance that makes up God's body does not make us uncertain that it does consist of some spiritual substance; for this fact flows from the fact that He is a spirit, which is taught in the Scriptures, notably in John 4: 24.

Self-existence is the next attribute of being in God that we desire to study. By God's self-existence we mean His independence from all beings, all conditions and all things for His being. It implies that He owes His existence to no one, that no one originated Him and that no one sustains Him. Nor does He owe His existence and continuance to any condition or thing. It is a part of His very nature to exist. In this He is totally different from any other being. All other beings have been dependent on some one else for their coming into existence. And even those of His creatures, like the saints, who have or yet will attain a condition of immortality, owe or will owe the conferring of this quality to God. All other beings have not only had to depend on Him for their coming into existence, but their continued existence as long as it will last depends on Him. Thus He is the only self-existent being in the universe. Reason recognizes this to be true when it demonstrates that He is the First Cause, and therefore causeless, self-existent.

But the Scriptures also teach this. God most solemnly announced His self-existence when He first revealed this characteristic, and that to Moses (Ex. 3: 14), by saying: "I AM THAT I AM; and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." Again Jehovah asserts this, in the words, "I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live forever" (Deut. 32: 40). His self- existence so far as man's righteousness or sin is concerned is stated clearly: "If thou sinnest, what doest thou against

God's Attributes of Being. 35

Him? … If thou be righteous, what givest thou Him? or what receiveth He of thy hand? Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit a son of man" (Job 35: 6-8). Jehovah asserts His self-existence when He says of Himself, "I am the first; and I am the last; and beside me there is no God" (Is. 44: 6). He is the first and the last in the sense that He is the only being who does not owe His existence to another. All others have depended on some one else for their coming into existence. He depended on no one else for existence; for He is self- existent. The expression, first and last, is equivalent to the expression, "the only one," i.e., in the sense suggested by the connection in which it is used. Thus when Jesus uses of Himself this expression, "the first and the last" (Rev. 1: 11), He gives us the thought that He was the only one directly begotten by God. All others were indirectly made by God, i.e., through Jesus (John 1: 3; Col. 1: 15-17). But the sense in which Jehovah is "the first and the last"—the only one— evidently is, among other things, that of self-existence. What a wonderful being He is by reason of His self- existence!

Closely related to His attribute of self-existence is another attribute of being in God—eternity. Some would have us think that there is no duration to eternity. They contrast it with time, as though it were timeless. Such a thought is distinctly unscriptural and is derived from heathen sources, especially from the heathen Greek philosophers, whose views were adopted and introduced into "the creeds of the dark ages." As the Scriptures teach it: Eternity is time without beginning and without ending. Thus duration is involved in the idea of eternity. Even reason is compelled to assent to the fact that time could have had no beginning and can have no end; for we cannot reason back to a time which was not preceded by time. If we reason back billions of years, we still can say that time

36 God.

was before that. Again, if we reason back billions of years back of that, we still can say that time was before that; and thus we could go back an infinitude of billions of years, and still could say that there was time before that. Thus we are compelled to conclude that time had no beginning, that time has always been, i.e., that there is a past to eternity. The same is true with reference to future time. It cannot end; it must go on forever. We cannot imagine a future time that will not have time after that time. Thus time is without beginning and without ending, always has been and always will be. This is eternity. Let us have done with the absurdity that eternity is a thing in which there is no time— no duration. There is, of course, a contrast between the transient and the eternal (2 Cor. 4: 18). But to contrast time and eternity, so as to make the former imply duration and the latter exclude it, is an unscriptural and an unreasonable thing—nonsense.

Both reason and Scripture teach that God is eternal— without beginning and without ending. That reason teaches this is evident from the fact that it teaches that God is the first cause, therefore causeless, and therefore eternal. Many are the testimonials of the Bible on this subject. A few of these we will quote: "The eternal God is thy refuge; and underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deut. 33: 27); "Neither can the number of His years be searched out" (Job 36: 26); "Blessed is the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting" (Ps. 41: 13); "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations … even from everlasting to everlasting Thou art God" (Ps. 90: 1, 2); "Thy throne is established of old; thou art from everlasting" (Ps. 93: 2); "Thy years shall have no end" (Ps. 102: 27); "The High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity" (Is. 57: 15); "He is the living God, and an everlasting King" (Jer. 10: 10); "Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God?" (Hab. 1: 12); "The invisible things [attributes] of Him from the

God's Attributes of Being. 37

creation of the world are clearly seen … His eternal power and deity" (Rom. 1: 20); "Unto the King eternal … the only God" (1 Tim. 1: 17, A. R. V.); "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come … who liveth for ever and ever" (Rev. 4: 8, 9); "O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be" (Rev. 16: 5). Thus we see that the Scriptures teach that God is eternal—without beginning and without ending. It affords Him abundance of time for the display of His character and works throughout the universe. This is indeed a sublime characteristic in God as a being. It certainly calls for our appreciation, veneration, adoration and worship.

Somewhat related to God's self-existence is another attribute of His being—self-sufficiency. By God's self- sufficiency is meant His independence from every person, thing or condition, for His continued existence, happiness and well-being. God is dependent on nothing, but everything existing is dependent on Him for continued existence. He needs nothing to support His existence. He would have been happy and would have been in well-being, had He never created anyone or anything. He is thus in and of Himself sufficient for existence, happiness and well­ being. His reason for bringing creation into existence was not His need of creation, but His desire to bless creatures. His pleasure in dispensing blessing, and not any need of others on His part was, therefore, His reason for His works of creation. St. Paul testifies to this feature of God's being: "Neither is He worshiped [served, prospered] with men's hands, as though He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life and breath and all things" (Acts 17: 25). His independence from man is expressed in a passage already quoted which we will quote again because of its pertinency: "If thou sinnest, what doest thou against Him? … If thou be righteous, what givest thou Him? or what receiveth He of thy hand? Thy wickedness may hurt a man as

38 God.

thou art; and thy righteousness may profit a son of man" (Job 35: 6-8). These Scriptures prove God's independence from all persons, things and conditions. No person or combination of persons, no thing or combination of things, no condition or combination of conditions, can make Him dependent in any sense. He maintains His self-sufficiency with respect to all persons, things and conditions. Thus God is absolutely free from dependence. He is in the highest sense independent—He is self-sufficient. This does not make Him proud, haughty or overbearing; but it does give Him that freedom which is compatible with His nature, position and attributes, and leaves Him the freedom to do for others from favor and not from dependence, for their good and not for His personal gain, for their ennoblement and happiness and not from some need of His. This is, of course, what we should expect in a great God, and certainly draws out toward Him our devotion as we contemplate His greatness as displayed in His self-sufficiency.

An attribute of God's being somewhat related to His self-existence and self-sufficiency, is His immortality. Immortality is a death-proof condition—a condition in which death is impossible. It stands in contrast with mortality, which signifies a condition in which death is possible. Mortality does not mean a condition that must result in, death, but a condition in which one can die—a dieable condition. The fact that Adam died is surest proof that he was not immortal, but that he was mortal. But while mortal in His creation, he could have lived forever, which he would have done had he continued to eat of the life- preserving foods in Eden (Gen. 3: 22). So, too, Satan is mortal, because he is some day to die (Heb. 2: 14; Is. 27: 1; Gen. 3: 15; Rom. 16: 20). Hence we conclude that all angels are mortal. The restitution class, though having eternal life, will be mortal, as the human Jesus was. These considerations prove that mortal beings must not necessarily

God's Attributes of Being. 39

die. As a matter of fact, only Divine beings are immortal (1 Tim. 6: 16). It is for this reason that the Church as heirs of the Divine nature (2 Pet. 1: 4) are promised immortality (1 Cor. 15: 53, 54). Jesus has given us a happy definition of immortality—"life in Himself" (John 5: 26). Life in one's self implies that one has a body that is dependent on nothing for sustenance, i.e., a depository of an inexhaustible supply of life, which can live under any and every condition or under any and every combination of conditions, from which nothing can separate life and nothing can diminish life. God is the original depository of such a life, and promised it first of all to Jesus on condition of His faithfulness unto death (John 5: 26, 27); and has in Christ promised it to the overcoming Church (1 John 3: 1, 2; 1 Tim. 6: 16; Phil. 3: 2; 1 Cor. 15: 53, 54; Rom. 2: 7). But He has promised it to no one else.

That God is immortal several Scriptures prove. We will quote a few of these: "As the Father hath life in Himself" (John 5: 26); "Now to the King eternal, immortal … the only God" (1 Tim. 1: 17). This means that God cannot die. We can die. It is rather easy to bring about the death of a human being. By drowning, choking, bleeding, crushing, striking, starving, burning, gassing, infecting, poisoning, etc—, death can be inflicted on man. But nothing can be done to God and nothing can be withheld from Him that could cause His death. He can without the least discomfort be in fire, under water, under the soil, outside of the atmosphere, in exploding TNT, in extreme cold, in a vacuum, or in any other condition. None of these things could diminish His life or separate it from His body. He is absolutely death-proof, and proof against the least diminution of life—He is immortal, has "life in Himself."

Thus far we have considered seven of God's attributes of being. The seven above discussed will surely help us better to understand what a wonderful and

40 God.

great being God is. Their devout study greatly enhances our appreciation of Him, and leads us to venerate Him as worthy of the fullest adoration, praise and worship of our hearts. The greatness of these attributes of being are in varied details beyond our ability to grasp; but they all incite us to stand in reverence and awe before Him who is infinite and perfect in all His attributes. And the fact that this great Being condescends to offer to fellowship with us and to draw us to Him is the highest possible honor that could be conferred upon us, and surely should stir us up to reciprocate in the same spirit. "O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker" (Ps. 95: 6); for it is comely so to do; and praise is fitting to the upright.

We continue our study on God's attributes of being with the discussion of God's invisibility, as an eighth quality of His being. Invisibility means sight-proof,—the quality by which it is impossible to be seen. When we say that God is invisible, we do not mean that He cannot be seen by any beings at all; for such a proposition would directly contradict the Scripture wherein Jesus says of the saints' guardian angels, "In heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father" (Matt. 18: 10). From this Scripture we infer that all spirit beings can see God, who Himself is a spirit. Therefore He is not invisible to all beings, i.e., He is not invisible in the absolute sense of the word. To what kind of creatures He is invisible we learn from a passage which teaches that our Lord in His glorified body is invisible. The passage in question is 1 Tim. 6: 16. In its pertinent part it reads as follows: "whom no man hath seen, nor can see." Hence God is invisible to animal beings, like man and the lower creation. But some may object that this passage treats of our Lord Jesus and not of God Himself, and that therefore we should not infer from it that God is invisible to animal beings including man. To this we reply that the Bible

God's Attributes of Being. 41

teaches that our Lord's glorified body is the very image of the Father's person (literally substance). Therefore if the Son's body is invisible to all animal beings, certainly the body of which it is the very image must also be invisible to all animal beings, and thus to man.

Some, however, may object to our Lord's glorified body as being invisible to man, on the ground that He appeared to Saul of Tarsus on the way to Damascus. We agree that Jesus did appear to Saul of Tarsus on the way to Damascus, and by such appearance changed him from a persecutor to a believer and apostle; but we deny that Saul saw our Lord's glorified body. What he saw was a representation, a "vision," of our Lord's body; for this he himself said was the thing that he saw (Acts 26: 19). A vision is not the real thing, but a representation of it. Thus when St. Peter saw the sheet with all manners of beasts descending from heaven, he saw a representation of Jews (the clean animals of the vision) and Gentiles (the unclean animals of the vision), not Jews and Gentiles themselves as such. When St. Paul saw the man of Macedonia calling, "Come over and help us," he did not see a real Macedonian, but a representation of one. Thus, too, St. John in Revelation saw not real dragons, beasts, cities, etc., but representations of them—visions of them. Thus in visions not the real things, but representations of the real things are seen. Hence we conclude that since St. Paul calls what he saw on the way to Damascus a vision, he did not see our Lord's real body. This we know to be a fact, because he himself spoke thus  of our glorified Lord: "whom no man hath seen, nor can see" (1 Tim. 6: 16). He could not truthfully have said this, had he actually seen our Lord's body. The thing that he actually saw was the glory light that shines out of our Lord's body as one of its inseparable qualities (Acts 26: 13­ 18); and this light would most fittingly represent our Lord's body, and therefore could be called Jesus with even greater

42 God.

pertinency than we call the communion bread the Lord's body, because it represents His body. Thus the two objections urged by some against God's invisibility fall to the ground.

Accordingly we conclude that God, while not invisible to spirit beings, is invisible to animal beings. The reason for this is self-evident: natural eyes have not the qualities that would enable them to see a spirit being. It requires a special miracle on natural eyes even to enable them to see the light that shines out of a spirit body, as the case of Saul proves; and in the case of the highest order of spirit bodies—the Divine bodies—even despite a miracle, the eyes are blinded before they can penetrate through the dazzling light to the body from which the light comes, as Saul's experience proves. So great was Saul's consequent blindness that to restore him thereafter to even imperfect sight a miracle was necessary (Acts 9: 12, 17, 18). Paul's imperfect sight thereafter seems to have been his famous thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12: 7). Paul's experience in seeing the light shining out from our Lord's body, coupled with the remark of Jehovah, "no man can see Me [the light shining out of My body, representing Me] and live," implies that the light shining out of God's body is even brighter than that which shines out of our Lord's glorified body; for while the light of the Latter's body did not kill, but only blinded Saul, nobody could survive the sight of the light shining forth from God's body (Ex. 33: 18, 20, 23). Notice, please, how

in Ex. 33: 18, 20, 23, the glory [the light shining out of God's body] of the Lord is spoken of as Himself and His face. This is because it is a representation of them. God's majesty and our littleness are manifest from the Bible doctrine of God's invisibility.

A brief consideration of a few other Scriptures treating on God's invisibility would be appropriate after the above explanations of it. God's invisibility is implied in the statement of Deut. 4: 15, "Ye [Israel]

God's Attributes of Being. 43

saw no manner of similitude on the day that Jehovah spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire." Likewise His invisibility is implied in the statement of His dwellings in the thick darkness, in 1 Kings 8: 12: "The Lord said that He would dwell in the thick darkness." Clearly man's inability to see Him even while He is near man is set forth in Job 9: 11: "Lo, He goeth by me, and I see Him not; He passeth on also, but I perceive Him not." How realistically this quality in God is described in Job 23: 8, 9: "Behold, I go forward, but He is not seen; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him; on the left hand, where He doth work, but I cannot behold Him; He hideth Himself on the right hand, that I cannot see Him." This is poetically stated in Ps. 18: 11 and 97: 2: "He made darkness His secret place; His pavilion round about Him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies." "Clouds and darkness are round about Him." John states it literally as a matter of man's universal experience (John 1: 18): "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared [revealed] Him [to our eyes of understanding by His teachings]." Jesus, also, first states it literally as a fact of Israel's universal experience (John 5: 37): "Ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His shape"; then He later states it as man's universal experience (John 6: 46): "Not that any man hath seen the Father, save He which is of God, He hath seen the Father." St. Paul uses the very term of God in several passages: Col. 1: 15—"who [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature"; 1 Tim. 1: 17—"unto the King … invisible, the only God [A.R.V.], be honor and glory for ever and ever"; Heb. 11: 27—"he [Moses] endured, as seeing Him who is invisible." These Scriptures one and all prove God to have invisibility to animal creatures as one of His attributes of being.

44 God.

The next attribute of God's being that will engage our attention is His unity. By His unity we understand that quality of God whereby He is one being, one individual, and no more or less than one being. Though He has many qualities of being and character, though He has divers operations and manifestations, in each of them and in all of them He is but one being, one individual—not many or few, but only one. The Scriptures set forth this thought most explicitly, both by direct statement and by direct contrast, and also both positively and negatively. So pointed are their expressions in these respects that they leave no doubt in a sober and clear mind as to their teaching on His unity. The reason that God has so greatly stressed His unity of being, i.e., that He is an individual, is the wide prevalence of polytheism in the world during and since the days of the Bible. The religions of the heathen world, ancient, medieval and modern, have all taught a plurality of gods, emphasizing as supreme among these three individuals, e.g., among the Romans: Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto. Corresponding to these three under different names are found three supreme gods in the Egyptian, Babylonian, Indian, Chinese, Greek, Germanic, etc., religions. Desirous of preserving the Truth inviolate among His people on the doctrine of the Supreme Being's unity, God over and over again emphasizes the thought that He is but one individual, and that in the sense in which He is God there is no other. Thus God overthrows the heathen doctrine that there are three co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial gods with a multitude of inferior gods.

Let us look at some of the most pointed of the Scriptures teaching God's unity: The classic passage of them all is Deut. 6: 4: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord." The following is a still more literal translation, and states the thought still more clearly: "Hear, O Israel: Jehovah is our God; Jehovah is one." Certainly this is a sublimely simple statement

God's Attributes of Being. 45

of the unity of God. Let us hold it up in pointed contradiction to heathen and heathenizing polytheism. How direct and pointed is 1 Kings 8: 60 in its assertion of Jehovah's sole deity: "That all the people of the earth may know that Jehovah is God, and that there is none else." How mighty is God's protest against polytheism as false, with its image representations of its deities, in Is. 42: 8: "I am Jehovah [the self-existent one]; that is My name; and My Glory [of supremacy] will I not give to another [god], neither my praise to graven images." In the following passage, John 17: 3, Jesus emphasizes with all-exclusive and contrasted terms God's sole deity and Himself as the supreme Messenger of this sole Deity: "This is [the purpose of] life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true [genuine, real] God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." Notice, please, how in the following passage, 1 Cor. 8: 4-6, St. Paul stresses Jehovah's sole deity, and then how he contrasts on the one hand the many heathen gods with the one true God, and on the other hand the many heathen lords with the one true Lord: "There is none other God but one; for though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be gods many and lords many; but to us there is but one God, the Father, … and one Lord, Jesus Christ." Could we put the contrasts more pointedly and tersely than is done by the Apostle in this passage? Again the same Apostle stresses God's sole deity in Gal. 3: 20: "Now a mediator is not a mediator of one [i.e., if there is only one person involved in a transaction, there can be no such a thing as a person acting as mediator; for a mediator implies that there are at least two other persons involved in a transaction, between whom he acts as a mediator]; but God is one [singular, not plural]." 1 Tim. 2: 5 is also to the point: "There is one God [hence not more than one], and one mediator between God and men." Here our Lord Jesus, who is the Mediator

46 God.

of the New Covenant, is presented as the Mediator between the one God and sinful man. In the following passage, James 2: 19, we are commended, if we believe in the sole deity of God: "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well." Here also belong 1 Tim. 1: 17 (A. R. V.) and Jude 25 (A. R. V.). The contrast between the only God and one Lord Jesus is emphatic. The above Scriptures stress mightily the teaching that there is but one God—Jehovah supreme above all others, whom it is our privilege to make supreme in our lives. To do this we must approach Him by the only way of access to Him, Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, the Savior and Lord, by repentance toward God, faith in our Lord Jesus and entire consecration to His will. With those who so do, this only God enters into covenant relations on lines of the Oath-bound Covenant (Gen. 22: 16-18). And He gives them as one of their works the privilege of vindicating His sole deity as against all heathen and heathenizing beliefs in a plurality of Gods.

We are not to understand that the passages which call the saints gods (Ps. 82: 6; John 10: 34) and the good and bad angels gods (Ps. 8: 5; 97: 7; comp. Heb. 1: 6)  contradict the thought of God's sole deity. This will be clear when we understand that the Hebrew word elohim and the Greek word theoi, translated gods, and meaning mighty ones, are applicable to any mighty one, be he man, angel, our Lord, or God Himself. Thus these words, used in their general sense, can apply to any mighty one; but when used in their specific sense they apply to Jehovah alone, i.e., in the sense in which He as the Supreme Being is God no one else is God. Thus there is perfect harmony between the doctrine that Jehovah, the Supreme Being, alone is God and is but one, and the Scriptural teaching that there are many gods in the sense of mighty beings. It is for this reason that the deities of the heathen are Scripturally called gods, mighty ones, for they as the

God's Attributes of Being. 47

demons, the fallen angels, are indeed mighty (Deut. 32: 16, 17; 1 Cor. 10: 20; 8: 5). Our investigation thus proves that God is one and not more than one being or individual. Him we delight to serve.

The next attribute of being in God to engage our attention is His omnipotence. Omnipotence has been defined as the ability to do anything. Such a definition is, we think, too broad; for the Scriptures clearly teach that there are some things that God cannot do, e.g., He cannot lie (Heb. 6: 18); He cannot deny Himself (2 Tim. 2: 13); He cannot commit, nor favor, nor be tempted to sin (Hab. 1: 13; Jas. 1: 13). In a word, God cannot do anything contrary to His character. So also it would be untrue to say that God can unmake a past event, i.e., make an accomplished fact unfactual; though He can prevent any event from occurring, or neutralize its effects after it has occurred, but once it has occurred, He cannot make it not a fact. These illustrations prove that it is wrong to define God's omnipotence as His ability to do anything. Nor do the Scriptures so define it. The nearest definition of God's omnipotence given us in the Bible is the following, found in Ps. 115: 3: "Our God is in the heavens; He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased" (See also Ps. 135: 6). This passage teaches that God can do anything that He desires. The reason that He cannot commit, nor favor, nor be tempted to sin, cannot lie and cannot deny Himself, is that He does not desire to do these things. His character so loves righteousness and hates wrong that he cannot desire to do these things. Knowing  the end from the beginning, He would not wait until an undesired event had occurred, when it would be impossible to make it a nonevent; He would beforehand have prevented its occurrence, were it unwanted by Him. In view of these facts we would therefore define  God's omnipotence as His ability to do anything that He desires to do. No power or combination of powers, be they ever so

48 God.

strong, can prevent His carrying out His determinations, even as He has said: "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure. I have spoken it, I will also bring it  to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it" (Is. 46: 10, 11; see also Job 23: 13, 14). "There is none that can deliver out of My hand; I will work, and who shall let [prevent] it?" (Is. 43: 13). In the light of the foregoing definitions, we are to understand the passages which say that God can do everything and that nothing is impossible with Him to imply the limitation expressed in the clause, "that He desires to do." Thus this clause should be understood as occurring in Job 42: 2 "Thou canst do everything [that Thou desirest]"; in Matt. 19: 26: "With God all things [that He desires to do] are possible"; and in Luke 1: 37: "For with God nothing [that He desires to do] is impossible."

Having seen what is meant by God's omnipotence or almightiness, let us look at some more passages that prove that this is one of His attributes of being, and that it is active in His marvelous works and ways. He calls Himself almighty in Gen. 17: 1: "I am the Almighty God." Gen. 18: 14 affirms that nothing that He desires to do is beyond His ability to do. "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" That He has had and will always have such power is affirmed in Is. 26: 4: "In the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." So,  too, is God's omnipotence, almightiness, expressly affirmed in Rev. 19: 6 and 21: 22. His power is not taxed in the least in His greatest conflicts with His enemies (Ex. 15: 6-12). It will never shrink to proportions disabling Him from accomplishing His ends (Num. 11: 23). No one can reverse His purpose (Num. 23: 20). It is greater by far than the combined power of all others (Deut. 3: 24). His might causes all to tremble (Deut. 7: 27). He has the power of life and death, from whom as such none can deliver, and who will undo all His enemies (Deut. 32: 39; 1 Sam. 2: 6, 7, 10).

God's Attributes of Being. 49

His power is the support of His people (Deut. 33: 27). It will become manifest in due time as such to all people (Josh. 4: 24). It does not depend upon others for successful exercise (1 Sam. 14: 6; 2 Chron. 14: 11). His omnipotence extends to all His creatures (1 Chron. 29: 11, 12; Dan. 4: 35). It is backed by His knowledge, especially in its exercise on behalf of the good (2 Chron. 16: 9; Dan. 3: 17; 6: 27). None are able successfully to resist Him (2 Chron. 20: 6; Ps. 66: 3; Job 11: 10; 12: 14; Is. 27: 4; 31: 3). It is generally used to help and bless. (2 Chron. 25: 8, 9). It blesses the good and punishes the evil (Ezra 8: 22; Luke 1: 49-51). Its sphere of sway is as boundless as the universe (Jer. 32: 17, 27; 10: 12, 13; 5: 22; Is. 51: 10; 50: 2, 3; 48: 13; 40: 12, 22, 24, 26, 28; Prov. 30: 4; Ps. 148: 5, 8; 147: 5, 16, 18; 29: 3-6; 46: 6; 65: 6, 7; 68: 33; 74: 13, 15; 77: 14-18; Job 9: 4-7, 10, 12, 13). Man under the curse is impotent in His hand (Job 14: 20). He can make any change desired by Him, even if not understood by us (Job 26: 11, 14; 38: 8, 11; Ps. 104: 7, 9, 29-32; 78: 26; 89: 8, 9, 13; 97: 3-5). In power none are comparable  with  Him  (Job  40:  9;  41:  10,  11).  His own strength exalts and brings credit to Him (Ps. 21: 13; 106: 8; 118: 16; 145: 6; Is. 63: 12). His enemies are certain of ultimate defeat (Ps. 76: 6, 7; Nah. 1: 3-6; Joel 2: 11; 3: 16; Is. 17: 13; 19: 1; 23: 11; 33: 3, 13; Jer. 20: 11; Heb. 3: 6,  9­ 11, 15). His might brings to pass all His plans (Is. 14: 24, 27). He is able to destroy both soul and body (Matt. 10: 28; Jas. 4: 12). It prevails over demons (Luke 11: 20). It fulfils His promises (Rom. 4: 21). It has raised and will raise up the dead (1 Cor. 6: 14). It enables Christians to live aright (Eph. 1: 19, 20; 3: 20; 1 Pet. 1: 5). Surely God's power is marvelous in itself and in its works.

Let us pause awhile and meditate upon God's main works as expressions of His almighty power. One of His greatest works is the universe in its creation and

50 God.

preservation. It is boundless in its stretch, and contains countless numbers of planetary systems, of which many billions have by the aid of the telescope been brought under man's survey; but in the illimitable realms of space there are doubtless many times more than those already discovered. Each of these planetary systems has its own sun; and if we should compute each of them as having as many planets and moons as our planetary system—the solar system—our minds would simply recoil upon themselves at the incomprehensible result! How do we know that there are such systems not yet brought into view by the most powerful telescopes? The infinity of the universe and the requirements of the laws of nature—gravity, attraction, repulsion, centrifugal and centripetal forces—presuppose their existence in the endless fields of space to keep the universe in order in its mighty procession of the solar systems and in the harmonious movements of each planet of each solar system. The creation and orderly preservation of the universe is therefore one of the sublimest expressions of God's almightiness, as well as one of its surest proofs. Most eloquently and sublimely do the Scriptures cite the universe in these features as expressions and proofs of God's omnipotence. Even if it took ages for its  creation, and the laws of nature for its realization, it is no less an expression of omnipotence; because omnipotence used the laws of nature merely as its methods of operation. Animate nature, as well as inanimate nature, tells the same story. Certainly God's power is manifest in the creation and preservation of man as the king of the earth, as well as of the lower earthly creatures as the subjects of this king. Yea, higher orders of beings than the earthly beings, i.e., the heavenly hosts—principalities and powers, thrones and dominions, cherubim and seraphim, angels and the Archangel Himself—are greater expressions of God's power than are the earthly creatures.

God's Attributes of Being. 51

Many, too, are the expressions of God's power in the history of His plan, connected with the permission of evil among mankind in general and among His people in particular. Overruling the permission of evil for preparing His people in character development unto everlasting life and holy rulership, and for teaching the rest of mankind the hatefulness of sin and the desirability of hating and avoiding it, is from one standpoint an impressive display of God's power. Preserving the watery canopy intact until the time of Noah and then letting it drop under circumstances destructive to the wicked and preservative to the righteous display God's great power. Confusing the languages of mankind at Babel showed His power. Destroying the wicked and the cities of the plain, but in Lot and his family preserving the righteous, are further manifestations of God's omnipotence. Inflicting ten plagues upon Egypt, including the destruction of its firstborn of man and beast, overthrowing its army in the return of the cleft sea and sparing Israel's firstborn of man and beast, and then the whole nation in the cleft sea, are marked evidences of Jehovah's power, as were also His preserving Israel in the waste, howling wilderness by miraculous manna and water, and His drying up the Jordan for the passage of Israel into Canaan. The overthrow of the hosts of Midian and Assyria demonstrated afresh His almightiness. The carnation, resurrection and glorification of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, again evidences the activities of His power. The begettal, development and preservation of His Church, amid Satanic attacks throughout the Gospel Age unto our day, bring again to our view the omnipotence of Jehovah.

But the Divine program is not yet finished. It involves through the Christ the future destruction of Satan's empire, including every oppressive government, false religious system, predatory aristocratic and capitalistic organization, as well as every other evil

52 God.

and selfish institution, the complete binding of Satan and his fallen angels, their removal from earth's atmosphere and their imprisonment during the Millennium, the resurrection of all the just, the awakening of the unjust, the establishment of God's kingdom throughout the earth, the destruction of all conditions conducive to evil, the construction of conditions conducive to righteousness, turning the earth into Paradise, lifting up Adam's lost race through obedience to the original perfection, restitution, loosing Satan and the fallen angels for a final test of mankind, the preservation of the faithful in everlasting life on this earth, the destruction of Satan and wicked angels and men at the end of the little season following the Millennium, and the filling of the earth with the glory of God. Surely these marvelous features of God's plan still to be carried into fulfillment will one and all be, among other things, remarkable exhibitions of God's wonderful power—His omnipotence!

And what shall we say more? Shall God's power then become quiescent? Nay, verily! With the end of the Millennium His great rest day of 7000 years from Creation ends. Other creations are therefore to follow the completion of the earthly creation at the hands of the Christ in the Millennium, the last seventh of God's day of rest from His work of creation. So far as we know, the only heavenly bodies hitherto inhabited are God's and the angels' abode— Alcyone of the Pleiades—and this earth. If God will see to it that this earth in becoming the eternal and perfect abode of our perfected race will not have been created in vain, He will also likewise see to it that other planets will be inhabited by perfect creatures; for why should He have brought the many planetary systems into existence, unless they are to be inhabited? If to prevent the earth's being created in vain it was peopled, we should expect the other planets also to become inhabited, lest their creation should be in vain. The Christ will be God's

God's Attributes of Being. 53

heirs (Rom. 8: 16, 17), and therefore will inherit the whole universe, even as Jesus, the Head of the Christ, inherited it at His glorification (Heb. 1: 2-4), and will at His Bride's glorification share His inheritance with her (Rom. 8: 16— 18; Rev. 3: 21). After they perfect the earth and the human race as the first part of their inheritance so treated, we may feel certain that they will proceed to the development of the rest of their inheritance—the universe—as their eternal work; for it is written: "Of the increase of His government and of peace there shall be no end" (Is. 9: 7). This increase would seem to imply the bringing of new orders of beings into existence. Such creative work is implied in St. Paul's statement in Eph. 2: 7 as a part of God's great favor to the Church. That God loves diversity is manifest in His creatures. From this fact we may certainly assume that He will see to the creation of many different orders of beings. This would also be required by the varying climatic conditions, e.g., in the various planets of our solar system; for the climate of its planets must greatly differ, depending on their distance from the sun. This would require organisms quite different from ours; for our bodies would burn up on some, and freeze on other planets of our solar system. Hence we may safely assume that the new creations will display great differences in their natures and qualities. To bring into existence and to perfection the inhabitants of countless planets, which will all be made perfect abodes for their inhabitants, would be an impressive demonstration of God's omnipotence, as well as of other attributes of God. Surely in His power God is a most marvelous Being; and by it He certainly calls forth our admiration, appreciation, worship and praise. Yea, unto Him be ascribed power omnipotent, eternal and beneficent!

In our discussion of God's attributes of being we now come to a consideration of His omniscience. Omniscience means knowledge of all things; therefore

54 God.

when we speak of God's being omniscient, we mean that He knows all things. This implies three things: that perfectly and completely He perceives all things, remembers all things and reasons out all things. Man having been in his perfection, among other things, an intellectual image of God, and fallen man having all the mental faculties of perfect man, though impaired and imperfect, we can from our knowledge of man's mental powers infer what God's mental faculties are. Thus God's mentality in its perceptive powers has the aptitude to calculation, order, color, weight, size, form, detail, time, place, music, construction, beauty, sublimity, intuition, etc., with all their implications. As avenues of perceiving such things He has not only what corresponds to our five senses—sight, hearing, smelling, tasting and feeling; but what we do not have—intuitive knowledge. These powers enable Him to perceive everything past, present and future. Further, God's mentality in its reproductive powers has the aptitude of remembering all things that He has perceived. God's mentality in its reasoning powers has the aptitude of drawing inductions and deductions, i.e., reasoning from some particulars to general conclusions and from general conclusions to the details, as it also has the powers of drawing conclusions as to contingencies. God's mentality in its imaginative powers, which result from the co-operation of the above three powers—perception, reproduction and reasoning, has the aptitude of inventing ideas realizable in plans and creations. And all of these intellectual powers are infinite in their capacities, infallible in their uses and perfect in their development. This is omniscience.

Man has gained knowledge in some intellectual departments, such as science, invention, philosophy, history, art, religion, philology, sociology, mathematics, etc. Each of these departments of knowledge in turn has many subdivisions, e.g., science has, among others, the following branches: cosmology, astronomy, geology,

God's Attributes of Being. 55

chemistry, medicine, physics, geography, botany, zoology, anthropology, etc. But even the most learned of men, or all of them combined, do not know all that is knowable in any one of the subdivisions of the above general departments of knowledge. Doubtless as time goes on, especially in the ages following the Millennium, man's knowledge will continue greatly to increase in all departments of learning. But never will he learn all the knowable in  any of them. But God knows everything in every department of knowledge. Not only so, but He knows every probability and possibility in them. Not a thing, not a principle, not a possibility, not a probability, e.g., in cosmology, astronomy, geology, geography, chemistry, physics, biology, sociology, physiology, etc., is unknown to Him. He is as familiar with what is in the ocean's depths and in the earth's center as on their surfaces. He knows as intimately the boundless universe as His own court. Nothing escapes His sight, nothing misses His attention, and nothing leaves or passes beyond His ken. The most difficult problems, conditions and secrets are an open book to Him. Every law of nature, every electron of matter, and every nook in space or substance He knows. "All things are naked [manifest, clear] in the sight of Him with whom we have to do."

It is His omniscience that enabled Him to plan the universe and all its creatures. His perfect knowledge of substances—both spiritual and material—enabled Him to arrange for a universe of such intricacy as is His. His knowledge of the laws of gravitation, adhesion, attraction, repulsion, relativity, centripetal and centrifugal forces, heat, cold, light, darkness, electricity, life, mathematics, etc., were used in the creation of the world and have been and are being used in its preservation and operation. Organic as well as inorganic nature, and material as well as spiritual nature, display His marvelous knowledge in inorganic matter and in the vegetable, animal and spiritual kingdoms.

56 God.

The use of His knowledge in practical forms in making, preserving and operating His creatures in the inorganic, organic and spiritual kingdoms, displays intelligence that transcends our comprehension, in the presence of which we must bow down and adore. His knowledge of sin, evil, human and spiritual beings, moral and religious laws, diagnosis of, and remedy for fallen man and angels, are further remarkable displays of Jehovah's knowledge. There are secrets of knowledge hidden now from us that are by  far greater than those open to us. When we consider the Biblical promise of further creations and developments in the universe, we are brought into the expectation of realms of knowledge transcending our greatest flights of imagination. And when we consider that all this future knowledge, as well as the knowledge of the past, present and future things, principles and beings, are in Jehovah's grasp, we see He is omniscient.

The Bible in very many of its passages points out God's knowledge—omniscience. It shows this from many standpoints. It states this as a fact in general, and then gives a great many particulars on it. Thus in a general way His knowledge, omniscience, is set forth apart from details (Job 12: 13, 22; 21: 22; 36: 4; 37 16; Ps. 147: 5; Is. 29: 15, 16; 40: 13, 14, 26-28; Jer. 10: 17; 23: 24; Rom. 11: 33; 1 Cor. 1: 25; 1 Tim. 1: 17; Heb. 4: 13; 1 John 3: 20). He knows all about His people, His enemies and all other people (Gen. 16: 13; Ex. 3: 7; Num. 14: 27; Deut. 2: 7; 2 Sam. 7: 20; 2 Kings 19: 27; Job 23: 10; 31: 4; Ps. 1: 6; 33: 13-15; 66: 7; 69: 19; Prov. 5: 21; Jer. 32: 19). He knows the minds and hearts of all people (Deut. 31: 21; 1 Sam. 2: 3; 16: 7; 1 Kings 8: 39; 1 Chron. 28: 9; 29: 17; Job 42: 2; Ps. 7: 9; 11: 4; 38: 9; 44: 21; 94: 11; 139: 1-4, 6, 12-16; Prov. 15: 3, 11; 16: 2; 17: 3; 24: 12; Is. 66: 18; Jer. 11: 20; 17: 10; 20: 12; Ezek. 11: 5; Amos 4: 13; Luke 16: 15; Acts 15: 8; Rom. 8: 27; 1 Thes. 2: 4). He especially knows those who are His (2 Chron. 16: 9;

God's Attributes of Being. 57

Ps. 37: 18; 103: 14; 119: 168; 142: 3; Matt. 6: 4, 8, 18, 32; 10: 29, 30; 1 Cor. 8: 3; Eph. 1: 8; 2 Tim. 2: 19). He also knows the evils of the wicked (Neh. 9: 10; Job 11: 11; Amos 9: 2-4; 1 Cor. 3: 20). He sees every detail in heaven and earth (Job 28: 10, 24; Jer. 23: 24). His thoughts and works are deep and great (Ps. 92: 5; 104: 24; 136: 5; 147: 4; Prov. 3: 19, 20; Jer. 51: 15). His knowledge embraces the future (Job 24: 1; Is. 42: 9; 44: 7; 45: 4; 46: 10; 48: 5, 6; Dan. 2: 20, 22, 28; Matt. 24: 36; Acts 15: 18; Rom. 8: 29; 1 Pet. 1: 2). Thus we see that the Bible teaches God's omniscience in general and in particular terms. Summarizing, we would say that God's omniscience means that He knows everything that He desires to know.

The thought of His omniscience should teach us humility, as in contrast we see how little we know. It should teach us confidence in, and submission to His thoughts and works as infallible, as against ours which are fallible. It should teach us hope for Truth from Him who gives us as liberally of His knowledge as we will accept it. It should teach us appreciation of Him as knowing all things. And it should teach us adoration of Him as being so great in His knowledge.

God's omnipresence is the next of Jehovah's attributes of being to engage our attention. On this subject great misunderstanding reigns among not a few people. Some, those who consider God as simply a great mind and not as a Being having a body, think of God from the standpoint of omnipresence as a mind that is so spread out as to be in every locality, in every inch of space, yea, in every atom in the universe. Some, who consider Him as having both a mind and a body, hold that His body is so spread out as to be in every locality, in every inch of space, yea, in every atom of the universe,—which is their idea of God's omnipresence. Such views are certainly unbiblical and nonsensical. They contradict the many Scriptures that teach that God's abode is in heaven (1 Kings 8: 30, 32, 34,

58 God.

36, 39, 43, 45)—seemingly in Alcyone, one of the Pleiades (Job 38: 31). There is nothing in the Scriptures that teaches directly or indirectly that God, as a mind, or in His body, is spread out throughout all space and substance. This view of His omnipresence is evidently an invention of Satan, palmed off to dupe the thoughtless, to perplex the devout and to repel the thoughtful. Not a little impetus has such a view of God's omnipresence given to atheism, pantheism, materialism and agnosticism. All the Scriptures that treat of God's omnipresence refer to the operation of His qualities throughout the universe, and not to a bodily presence of Himself pervading everything.

Let us see what is meant by God's omnipresence from the standpoint of the operation of His powers and qualities throughout the universe, both in its space and in its substances. We speak of everything that we see as being in our presence. Thus God's sight of all things brings them into His presence. Hence the boundless universe everywhere is in His presence, being embraced within the compass of His sight. Further, His power laying hold on everything in the universe, through operating toward it any law and force of nature that He desires, makes Him work everywhere. Again, God has such powers of hearing that every sound in the universe can be heard by Him as made in His presence. His sense of smelling is so delicate that every scent can be taken in by Him. So with His sense of feeling and tasting. Some of man's inventions help us to see the probability and reasonableness of these things. A powerful telescope brings into the range of our sight much of the universe. A powerful microscope makes molecules, but not atoms, visible to us. The radio enables us to hear voices from the other side of the world. Telephones enable us to carry on conversations across continents and oceans. Pressure on a button enables one by wire or cable to  operate machines on the other side of the earth. The Millikan

God's Attributes of Being. 59

ray—of fifty-fold greater potency than the X-ray—enables one to see through the most solid substances. God has in His eyes measurelessly greater powers of sight than the telescope, microscope and Millikan rays can give our eyes. God's ears and voice have infinitely greater powers than the radio and telephone can give our ears and voices. God's power and knowledge enable Him to operate the forces and laws of nature at infinitely greater distances than electricity brought under our control through proper means of contact enable us to do at a distance. Thus the vastly increased scope given to man's powers through inventions give us a faint idea of the infinite powers that God has inherently in His faculties, and thus enable us to see what the Scriptures mean when they speak of God's omnipresence. Thus God's powers and qualities enable Him to know and do throughout the universe just the same as though He were bodily present everywhere. Thus God's omnipresence means, not the stretching of Him as a mind or His body or both throughout every nook and corner of the universe and its substances, but the operation of His powers and qualities everywhere.

If we examine the Scriptures that treat of God's omnipresence, we will find that they teach such an omnipresence as we have described. Jacob, for instance, having in a dream at Bethel seen a ladder extending from heaven to earth, angels ascending and descending thereon and God standing at its top in heaven speaking to him, by his vision, sight and statement, "Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not" (Gen. 28: 16), shows that God was locally in heaven, for that is where Jacob in vision saw Him, but that by His voice and promise heard by Jacob He was at Bethel. Repeatedly the Bible teaches that God was not locally at a certain place, e.g., in any of the three temples that the Jews built for Him (1 Kings 8: 27; Acts 7: 48, 49). The former one of these citations we will quote and briefly explain in brackets: "Will God

60 God.

indeed dwell on earth? [the form of the question implies a negative answer, which disproves a bodily omnipresence.] Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee [Thou in the activities of Thy powers and qualities canst not be restricted to the heavens], how much less this house that I have builded [can be the total sphere of the activity of Thy powers and qualities]?" The entire passage shows that this earth is unfitted to be the home of so great a Being, whose powers and qualities could not be limited to the heavens themselves, let alone to the temple at Jerusalem. This passage certainly disproves a bodily omnipresence of God, but does teach an omnipresence of the operation of His powers and qualities. The real omnipresence of God as one consisting in the operation of His powers and qualities is beautifully brought out in Ps. 139: 3, 5, 7-10: "Thou compassest [by Thy powers working providentially on my behalf] my path and my lying down. Thou hast beset me behind and before [by Thy protection], and laid Thy hand [God's hand symbolizes His power] upon me. Whither shall I go from Thy spirit [power, qualities]? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence [sight]? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there [by Thy works of glorification]; if I make my bed in hell [sheol, oblivion], behold, Thou are there [by Thy power to deliver in the resurrection]. If I take the wings [beams] of the morning [the place of the rising sun, the east], and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea [the Mediterranean Sea was west of Palestine, the west; hence, if he would be anywhere on earth], even there shall Thy hand [power] lead me, and Thy right hand [chief power and favor] shall hold me [in safety]." In this passage the operation of God's powers and qualities on behalf of His people is most beautifully described, and shows that His omnipresence is one of powers and qualities, and not one of body or of a mind or both extended throughout space.

God's Attributes of Being. 61

Another passage that proves the same thing is Jer. 23: 23, 24: "Am I a God [a powerful one; for the word God means a powerful one] at hand, and not a God [a powerful one] afar off? [Can I exercise My powers and qualities as a powerful one only near My body and not far off from it? This is a clear proof that God's body is limited to but one certain place at one time.] Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. [Even if I am in   body  limited   to   a  certain   one  place   at   a   time,  I

nevertheless have powers and qualities that enable me to see everyone and everything everywhere.] Do not I fill [with the operation of My powers and qualities] heaven and earth? saith the Lord." This passage clearly proves that God works not only near to Himself, but far away from Himself. Therefore it proves that He is not omnipresent in body, but in the operation of His powers and qualities; for if His body would be everywhere, everything would be at His hand— near Him—and nothing would be far away from Him. Another passage (Matt. 28: 20): "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the Age," gives us the viewpoint of God's being with His people, not locally, but sympathetically, helpfully, protectively, etc.; for Jesus was not on earth locally throughout the Gospel Age, but in heaven (Acts 3: 21). So God is with us not locally, but by the operation of His powers and qualities. This thought is very manifest from Acts 17: 24, 27, 28: "God, that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth [ruler of heaven and earth, which He rules not in bodily presence everywhere, even as earthly rulers do not so rule their dominions, but by His power, authority, etc., extending everywhere, even as earthly rulers govern their dominions by their power, authority, etc., extending throughout their dominions], dwelleth not in temples made with hands [but in His abode in heaven, hence is not present bodily everywhere]

62 God.

… That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far [in spirit, not in body] from everyone of us; for in Him [the Greek here means by, not in, i.e., by His power, kindness and love] we live, and move, and have our being." This passage denies an omnipresence of God's body or of Him as consisting of a great mind. Like all others it teaches His omnipresence in the operation of His powers and qualities.

Thus we have examined the Scriptures that teach God's omnipresence, and find that none of them teaches an omnipresence of God's body or of Him as a great mind; but of Him in the operation of His powers and qualities. Thus the Scriptures are self-harmonious on this subject and teach a reasonable view of the matter, even as within the scope of our limited observation we know it to be true as a matter of experience.

God's supremacy is another attribute of Jehovah's being. By God's supremacy we understand especially two things to be meant: (1) in person, character, plan and works He is incomparably superior to all other beings, not even excepting our Lord Jesus; and (2) all beings and things are, or ought to be and finally will be, subject to Him— whosoever finally refuses such subjection will ultimately be annihilated. God's supremacy, then, in the first place means that in person, character, plan and works, God is incomparably superior to all other beings, not even excepting our Lord Jesus. This implies that in existence He is the greatest, and in fact is the only being not created— having always been. Again, in attributes of being He is the greatest. Again, in all attributes of good character, especially in wisdom, power, justice and love, He is the greatest. Furthermore, His plans, embracing as they do all the universe and its creatures, past, present and future, are the greatest. Finally, His works—creative, providential, redemptive, instructional, justifying, sanctifying and delivering, are the greatest.

God's Attributes of Being. 63

Thus God is supreme in His being, character, plans and works—incomparably superior to all other beings in these respects. Thus, too, He is supreme in the sense of having had or having or being about to have authority and power over all other beings. His supremacy was acknowledged by every creature in heaven, until Lucifer rebelled and later led off some of the angels from subjection to God. But even these must submit to the metes and bounds that God has appointed to them. So, too, mankind is also in rebellion against God, yet is subject to the metes and bounds placed by God upon it under the curse. Some of mankind and some of the fallen angels are now subjecting themselves willingly to God, thus in their lives acknowledging God's supremacy. Later those people who did not in this life have the opportunity of making God supreme in their lives will be given an opportunity to do so. Many will avail themselves fruitfully of that opportunity, and will in the Ages to come eternally make God supreme in their lives. All others—human and angelic—who refuse so to do will be annihilated, and as a result God's supremacy will be acknowledged in motive, thought, word and act, by every living being, those who never ceased therefrom, as well as those who ceased temporarily therefrom and later complied therewith.

God's supremacy in His person and attributes of being is manifest from the passages that we have quoted on these subjects thus far, in this chapter. His supremacy in person, character, plan and works will be seen in the Scriptures to be quoted when we treat of those subjects in other connections. Here we give only in general ways Scriptural proof of His supremacy. This is manifest from a variety of standpoints: (1) His ownership of everything (Gen. 14: 19; 1 Chron. 29: 11; Ps. 50: 10; Ezek. 18: 4; Rev. 4: 11); (2)  His control  of nature (Job  38:  33; Jer.  31: 35; 33:  25); (3) His giving laws to all (Ex. 20: 2; Is. 33: 22;

64 God.

Matt. 4: 10; 22: 37); (4) His trying men (Deut. 13: 1; Job 2: 6; 1 Cor. 11: 19); (5) His bestowal of favor (Rom. 9: 22; 2 Tim. 2: 25); (6) His disposing of men's lives (Gen. 22: 2; 1 Sam. 16: 3); (7) His judging men, nations and angels (Dan. 4:  17;  Rom.  12:  19;  1 Cor.  6:  3;  Rev.  11:  18).  The Scriptures prove that He is supreme even over our Lord Jesus (John 10: 20; 14: 28; 1 Cor. 3: 23; 11: 3; 15: 24, 27, 28; Phil. 2: 6; Eph. 1: 17; 1 Pet. 1: 3; Ps. 45: 6, 7, compare with Heb. 1: 8, 9). The Scriptures prove that ultimately God will be honored as supreme (1 Cor. 15: 28; Phil. 2: 9-11; Rev. 5: 12, 13; 19: 6; Deut. 10: 14, 17; Ps. 47: 2, 3, 7, 8; 83: 18; 97: 9; 145: 11-13; Rom. 14: 11). Thus Jehovah's supremacy is a Scriptural teaching.

The final attribute of God's being that we will consider is His unfathomableness. By this we mean that quality of God's being which makes Him impossible of being fully comprehended in all the details of His being, attributes, thoughts and works by any of His creatures. Of course God fully comprehends Himself in every detail of His being, attributes, thoughts and works. And those of His intelligent creatures who are in harmony with Him comprehend some of the things of His being, attributes, thoughts and works. For example, our study of his existence and attributes of His being have made clear some of their features to us. But other features of these we cannot fully grasp. Among other things this is manifest in the matter of His being without a beginning. While reasoning from second causes to the First Cause we saw that God has to be without beginning, because of His being uncaused; yet we cannot grasp how it can be so. The argument from effect to cause proves to our reason that it is a fact that He is without beginning; but neither it nor anything else explains to our reason how He can be without a beginning. It is our inability to reason out all things connected with His existence as

God's Attributes of Being. 65

being without a beginning that makes Him unfathomable to us in certain respects of His existence. Thus His past eternity is not fully comprehensible to us. This same unfathomableness we find in almost all of His other attributes of being, His unity, supremacy and unfathomableness being perhaps the only exceptions. Thus while we see the reasonableness of His having a body, yet we cannot fully comprehend the kind of a body that He has. Nor can we fully comprehend His spirituality, self- existence, self-sufficiency, immortality, omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, invisibility, etc., though we are able to understand the fact of these qualities and comprehend some features of them. Our being images of God gives us the power partially to comprehend Him in His being, attributes, thoughts and works; but our being finite— limited—and His being infinite—unlimited—prevents us from fully comprehending God in all the details of His being, attributes, thoughts and works. Experience proves that the Scriptures are certainly true when they teach that none of God's creatures can fathom Him.

That there are some things in God unfathomable by us is taught in Biblical statements like the following: "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things that are revealed belong unto us" (Deut. 29: 29); "God … doeth great things and unsearchable [unfathomable]" (Job 5: 8, 9); "Canst thou by searching find out [fully comprehend] God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?" (Job 11: 7); "Lo, these are parts of His ways [we can comprehend some features of Him]; but how little a portion is heard [understood] of Him. But the thunder of His power who can understand?" (Job 26: 14); "Behold, God is great, and we know [fully comprehend] Him not; neither can the number of His years be searched out [His eternity cannot be fully comprehended by us]" (Job 36: 26); "Great things doeth He, which we cannot comprehend. … Touching

66 God.

the Almighty, we cannot [fully] find Him out" (Job 37: 5, 23); "Such knowledge [of Jehovah's secret things] is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it" (Ps. 139: 6); "His greatness is unsearchable" (Ps. 145: 3); "Thou knowest not [fully] the works of God who maketh all" (Eccl. 11: 5); "There is no searching [fathoming] of His understanding" (Is. 40: 28); "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable [unfathomable] are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known [fully comprehended] the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor?" (Rom. 11: 33, 34). These Scriptures, teaching our inability to fathom God, arouse us to appreciate, reverence, adore and worship the Unfathomable One.

And surely our consideration of the fourteen chief attributes of God's being should enhance Him in our appreciation and should prompt us to trust, reverence, love, adore and worship Him as altogether worthy. O! How great our God is in His attributes of being! Truly the acme of complete excellence meets perfectly and supremely in Him, and in Him alone, for which be ascribed unto Him all glory, praise and adoration!

‍