The Attributes of God
by Arthur W. Pink
The Contemplation of God
In the previous studies we have had in review some of the
wondrous and lovely perfections of the divine character. From this most
feeble and faulty contemplation of His attributes, it should be evident to
us all that God is—
First, an incomprehensible
Being, and, lost in wonder at His infinite greatness, we are
constrained to adopt the words of Zophar, "Can you fathom the mysteries of
God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the
heavens—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave—what
can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea"
(Job 11:7-9). When we turn our thoughts to God's eternity, His
immateriality, His omnipresence, His almightiness, our minds are
overwhelmed.
But the incomprehensibility of the divine nature is not a
reason why we should desist from reverent inquiry and prayerful strivings to
apprehend what He has so graciously revealed of Himself in His Word. Because
we are unable to acquire perfect knowledge, it would be folly to say we will
therefore make no efforts to attain to any degree of it. It has been well
said: "Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole
soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued, investigation of the great
subject of the Deity. The most excellent study for expanding the soul, is
the science of Christ and Him crucified and the knowledge of the Godhead in
the glorious Trinity" (C. H. Spurgeon).
Let us quote a little further from this prince of
preachers: "The proper study of the Christian is the Godhead. The highest
science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can
engage the attention of a child of God is the name, the nature, the person,
the doings, and the existence of the great God which he calls his Father.
There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of
the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its
immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other
subjects we can comprehend and grapple with; in them we feel a kind of
self-contentment, and go on our way with the thought, 'Behold I am wise.'
But when we come to this master science, finding that our plumbline cannot
sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away
with the thought—I am but of yesterday and know nothing." (Sermon on Mal
3:6)
Yes, the incomprehensibility of the divine nature should
teach us humility, caution, and reverence. After all our searchings and
meditations we have to say with Job, "Lo, these are parts of His ways: but
how little a portion is heard of Him?" (26:14). When Moses besought Jehovah
for a sight of His glory, He answered him, "I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before you" (Exo 33:19), and, as another has said: "The name is the
collection of His attributes." Rightly did the Puritan John Howe declare:
"The notion therefore we can hence form of His glory, is only such as we may
have of a large volume by a brief synopsis; or of a spacious country by a
little landscape. He has here given us a true report of Himself, but not a
full account; such as will secure our apprehensions—being guided thereby
from error, but not from ignorance. We can apply our minds to contemplate
the several perfections whereby the blessed God discovers to us His being,
and can in our thoughts attribute them all to Him, though we have still but
low and defective conceptions of each one. Yet so far as our apprehensions
can correspond to the discovery that He affords us of His several
excellencies, we have a present view of His glory."
As the difference is indeed great between the knowledge
of God which His saints have in this life—and that which they shall have in
Heaven. Yet, as the former should not be undervalued because it is
imperfect, so the latter is not to be magnified above its reality. True, the
Scripture declare that we shall see "face to face" and "know" even as we are
known (1 Cor 13:12). But to infer from this that we shall then know God as
fully as He knows us, is to be misled by the mere sound of words, and to
disregard the restriction of that knowledge that our finiteness necessarily
requires. There is a vast difference between the saints being glorified—and
their being made divine. In their glorified state, Christians will still be
finite creatures, and therefore, never able to fully comprehend the infinite
God.
"The saints in heaven will see God with the eye of the
mind, for He will be always invisible to the bodily eye. They will see Him
more clearly than they could see Him by reason and faith, and more
extensively than all His works and dispensations had hitherto revealed Him.
But their minds will not be so enlarged as to be capable of contemplating at
once, or in detail, the whole excellence of His nature. To comprehend
infinite perfection, they must become infinite themselves. Even in Heaven,
their knowledge will be partial, but at the same time their happiness will
be complete, because their knowledge will be perfect in this sense, that it
will be adequate to the capacity of the subject, although it will not
exhaust the fullness of the object. We believe that it will be progressive,
and that as their views expand, their blessedness will increase. But it will
never reach a limit beyond which there is nothing to be discovered, and when
ages after ages have passed away, He will still be the incomprehensible
God." (John Dick, 1840).
Secondly, from a review of the perfections of God, it
appears that He is an all-sufficient
Being. He is all-sufficient in Himself and to Himself. As the First of
beings, He could receive nothing from another, nor be limited by the power
of another. Being infinite, He is possessed of all possible perfection. When
the Triune God existed all alone, He was all to Himself. His understanding,
His love, His energies, found an adequate object in Himself. Had He stood in
need of anything external He would not have been independent, and therefore
He would not have been God. He created all things, and that for Himself (Col
1:16), yet it was not in order to supply a lack—but that He might
communicate life and happiness to angels and men, and admit them to the
vision of His glory. True, He demands the allegiance and services of His
intelligent creatures, yet He derives no benefit from their offices; all the
advantage redounds to themselves (Job 22:2-3). He makes use of means and
instruments to accomplish His ends, yet not from a deficiency of power, but
oftentimes to more strikingly display His power through the feebleness of
the instruments.
The all-sufficiency of God, makes Him to be the Supreme
Object which is ever to be sought unto. True happiness consists only in the
enjoyment of God. His favor is life, and His loving-kindness is better than
life. "The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore will I hope in Him"
(Lam 3:24). His love, His grace, and His glory are the chief objects of the
saints' desire and the springs of their highest satisfaction.
"Many are asking—Who can show us any good? Let the light
of your face shine upon us, O Lord. You have filled my heart with greater
joy than when their grain and new wine abound." (Psalm 4:6,7).
Yes, the Christian, when in his right mind, is able to
say: "Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on
the vine; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and
barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are
empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my
salvation." (Hab 3:17,18).
Thirdly, from a review of the perfections of God, it
appears that He is the Supreme Sovereign of the
universe. It has been rightly said: "No dominion is so absolute
as that which is founded on creation. He who might not have made anything,
had a right to make all things according to His own pleasure. In the
exercise of His uncontrolled power, He has made some parts of the creation
mere inanimate matter, of grosser or more refined texture, and distinguished
by different qualities, but all inert and unconscious. He has given
organization to other parts, and made them susceptible of growth and
expansion, but still without life in the proper sense of the term. To others
He has given not only organization, but conscious existence, organs of sense
and self-motive power. To these He has added in man the gift of reason, and
an immortal spirit, by which he is allied to a higher order of beings who
are placed in the superior regions. Over the world which He has created, He
sways the scepter of omnipotence. 'At the end of that time, I,
Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored.
Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever.
His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to
generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as
he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one
can hold back his hand or say to him—What have you done?' Daniel 4:34-35"
(John Dick).
A creature, considered as such, has no rights. He can
demand nothing from his Maker; and in whatever manner he may be treated, has
no title to complain. Yet, when thinking of the absolute dominion of God
over all, we ought never to lose sight of His moral perfections. God is just
and good, and ever does that which is right. Nevertheless, He exercises His
sovereignty according to His own imperial and righteous pleasure. He assigns
each creature his place as seems good in His own sight. He orders the varied
circumstances of each according to His own counsels. He molds each vessel
according to His own uninfluenced determination. He has mercy on whom He
will, and He hardens whom He will. Wherever we are, His eye is upon us.
Whoever we are, our life and everything is held at His disposal. To the
Christian, He is a tender Father; to the rebellious sinner He will yet be a
consuming fire. "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only
wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen" (1 Tim 1:17).