Know God Part 4: The Attributes of God (Section C)

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1 Know God Part 4: The Attributes of God (Section C) THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD S CHARACTER + God s Jealousy God is a jealous God. The LORD of Hosts says this: I am extremely jealous for Zion; I am jealous for her with great wrath. -Zechariah 8:2 HCSB emphasis added Many people have trouble with the idea that God is jealous. In our human experiences, jealousy is almost always a bad thing and it is many times a sin. We are jealous when we want something we do not have, or we become angry over the actions of another. God s jealousy is strongly connected to God s anger. Judah did what was evil in the LORD s eyes. They provoked Him to jealous anger more than all that their ancestors had done with the sins they committed. -1 Kings 14:22 HCSB emphasis added Just like God s jealousy, we have a hard time understanding God s anger as well. We associate anger with sin and evil, and in our experiences, our anger is most often sinful. In order to understand God s anger and jealousy, we need to understand another word: Zeal. To be zealous means to have strong desires for something or someone. The LORD will not be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that person, and every curse written in this scroll will descend on him. The LORD will blot out his name under heaven. -Deuteronomy 29:20 HCSB emphasis added God is zealous for Himself. We might find His personal zeal appalling, because if we are zealous for ourselves it is considered sinful. However, we are able to understand God s jealousy, anger, and zeal by answering one question: What is the greatest desire God could desire? The answer is there is nothing greater than God, therefore the greatest desire God could desire is Himself. KNOW GOD Powell 36

2 If we as human beings desire ourselves above all, we sin. We sin because as human beings there is something greater than ourselves (God) that we are ignoring. God is jealous for himself because His glory is the greatest thing that He can desire. God is jealous for me because I am apart of His glory. Think of how God s jealousy is revealed in the first 3 of the 10 Commandments. Then God spoke all these words: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. Do not have other gods besides Me. Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. You must not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers sin, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commands. Do not misuse the name of the LORD your God, because the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses His name. -Exodus 20:1-7 HCSB God is jealous because He desires his glory above all. He is so committed to His glory in us that He did not spare His own son in order that He might bring the many of His sons and daughters into his glory. But we do see Jesus made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God s grace He might taste death for everyone crowned with glory and honor because of His suffering in death. For in bringing many sons to glory, it was entirely appropriate that God all things exist for Him and through Him should make the source of their salvation perfect through sufferings. -Hebrews 2:9-10 How great the pain of searing loss, the Father turns His face away. As wounds which mar the chosen One, bring many sons to glory Stuart Townend, Lyrics to How Deep the Father s Love + God s Perfection We live in a world of moral imperfection. While many things and people are more perfect than others, we are unable to encounter true moral perfection. However, all of our acknowledgements of moral imperfections imply one fantastic truth: if there is moral imperfection, the has to be moral perfection (God.) The very existence of moral imperfection points to the reality of a perfect God. KNOW GOD Powell 37

3 The Rock His work is perfect; all His ways are entirely just. A faithful God, without prejudice, He is righteous and true. -Deuteronomy 32:4 HCSB emphasis added What is perfect is flawless or excellent. When something is perfect, it cannot be improved. Because God is changeless, he cannot be anything other than what he is and He is truly perfect. What is perfect will continue to remain perfect, but what is imperfect can continue to become more imperfect. God is morally perfect: Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. -Mathew 5:48 HCSB emphasis added God is perfect in action: Yahweh, You are my God; I will exalt You. I will praise Your name, for You have accomplished wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness. -Isaiah 25:1 HCSB emphasis added God is perfect in speech: God His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is pure. He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.-Psalm 18:30 HCSB emphasis added + God s Wrath and Mercy God s wrath flows from his holiness and jealousy. Because God desires His glory above all else, and because whatever does not glorify God is sin, God must do something with sin. There is only one way to destroy sin: the wrath of God. The possessions in his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God s anger. -Job 20:28 HCSB emphasis added Let his own eyes see his demise; let him drink from the Almighty s wrath! -Job 21:20 HCSB emphasis added And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. -Revelation 6:16 HCSB emphasis added KNOW GOD Powell 38

4 God s wrath is not an attribute of His character, rather His wrath flows from His holiness. God is wrathful because He is holy. Because God is holy He can have no tolerance of sin. All sin must and will be punished by God; His holiness demands it. We might object and say, what about forgiveness? Does not God forgive a penitent sinner? The answer is God does forgive penitent sinners, but He forgives only because His holy wrath has already been poured out on another. In order to understand God s wrath, we need to understand propitiation. Propitiation is the satisfaction of the wrath of God. The Bible teaches us that Jesus is the propitiation for our sin. Jesus become the object of God wrath that he might absorb the wrath that was due to sinners. He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world. -1 John 2:2 HCSB emphasis added God s mercy is received because of God s wrath. If God were not wrathful, He would not be merciful. + God s Goodness and Love God s love is based on his infinite goodness. God is not just committed to His holiness He is committed to good. God s love is revealed in God s ever-abounding goodness. God uses evil things for Good: You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result the survival of many people. -Genesis 50:20 HCSB emphasis added God works all things together for Good: We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose. - Romans 8:28 HCSB emphasis added God is intrinsically love, He does all things out of a love for His glory and a love for His people. God is love: KNOW GOD Powell 39

5 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. -1 John 4:8 HCSB emphasis added God s love is everlasting: The LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued to extend faithful love to you. -Jeremiah 31:3 HCSB emphasis added God s love is new every morning: Because of the LORD s faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! -Lamentations 3:22-23 HCSB emphasis added God s love is based on His goodness not ours: But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! -Romans 5:8 HCSB emphasis added But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! -Ephesians 2:4-5 HCSB emphasis added God s love is great beyond measure: I pray that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power in the inner man through His Spirit, and that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God s love. -Ephesians 3:16-18 HCSB emphasis added The best description of the love of God I have encountered is found in the 3 rd verse of the old song The Love of God : Could we with ink the ocean fill And were the skies of parchment made; Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade; To write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry; Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Though stretched from sky to sky. KNOW GOD Powell 40