The Ever Existing One
Revelation 4:8 “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”
The Unanswerable Questions
Some of us lay on our beds at night and ponder questions that simply have no rational answer. One of them has to do with the question of how God can exist if He has no beginning. Usually things that have no beginning do not exist. Some people have said that there is no God based on that philosophical question. But if there is no God, there is no Creator. However, things that we know exist came from somewhere. Where did this world come from and how was it created if there is no God? Some say there was a big bang and some electrical shock or powerful force brought this all into existence. There is just one problem with that. The powerful force had to come from somewhere and the material that came into existence at that time had to come from somewhere. Where did it come from? If nothing existed before the big bang, what is the definition of “nothing?” Space is something even if it is defined as nothing and so is mass. Space and mass had to come from somewhere. The powerful force had to come from somewhere. Man’s philosophy and scientific reasoning cannot answer these questions. Only faith in the One who says that He was and is and is to come can answer these questions.
Man’s Substitute for Faith in the Ever Existing One
Humanity has a tendency to believe anything that is repeated often enough, particularly if those who claim to be “wise” are the ones repeating the things we want to believe. So the “wise” have told us that since God is really unknowable, any god is as good as the next. In our day, believing in no god is just as acceptable as believing in the idols and mythological gods of many societies. Ultimately, mankind believes in most anything so long as they don’t have to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Ever Existing One.
I often wonder how many people who are trying to put Christ back into Christmas this year have really believed that the One born in the manger as the fulfillment of prophecy is also the One who went to the cross and died for their sins? How many really believe that He rose from the dead and that He is coming again? How many people have really been “born again” or “saved” as a result of believing in Him? How many believe that by Him all thing are created that were created (John 1:3, Colossians 1:16)? How many really believe that the Lord Jesus is the One who was and is and is to come? These are the things that a true believer accepts by faith which means that they accept it just because God says it. We who are believers have answers that logic and science cannot give, and those answers satisfy us.
Can we Really Know?
When I was young, I was taught that if I had any doubts as to whether the Bible was the Word of God, I should study the nation of Israel. I was taught that God had used that nation as an object lesson that teaches us how God thinks and acts. The children of Israel were like many people today. They had a good heritage. They had been delivered as a nation from the bondage of Egypt. They had been told that if they were faithful to the Lord as His redeemed people they would be blessed. Their good works and their faithful worship would not save them but would be evidence of their appreciation and faith in the One who had saved them. But what did Israel do? They turned aside to idols. But God says over and over again in the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel that one day they will know that “I am the LORD.” The LORD in these statements is Jehovah or the ever existing One or the One who was and is and is to come.
Unfortunately, if I understand these prophecies right, prophets didn’t and won’t convince Israel of their need to worship Jehovah instead of idols or instead of worshipping nothing. The baby born in a manger won’t convince them. The cross of Christ will not convince them. They will also explain away the resurrection. But coming judgment will convince them. And coming judgment will convince the world that the things written in this book we call the Bible are true. The world will be convinced that science and philosophy did not have the answer, but faith in an old archaic book did.
What will Convince Us?
If the nation of Israel is our example, it appears that many people that wouldn’t believe in the Lord Jesus in this present age when God is offering grace and mercy will finally believe that Jesus is Jehovah, the Ever Existing One, when judgment comes. We live in a time of blessing when people are still being offered the salvation that only the Ever Existing One can provide. But I worry that many who claim to be worshipping the LORD during this Christmas season have not accepted the truth that the One who died on that cross really is the Ever Existing One. But they will when they fall under His judgment as unbelievers. Then it will be too late.
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of December 14, 2014