Truth
4 Characteristics of the Impeccable Author of Justice
**Part of The Nature of God series.**
During his New York gubernatorial campaign, Eliot Spitzer–the square-jawed crusader and former prosecutor who chased corruption on Wall Street so ferociously that people nicknamed him Eliot Ness–promised to bring ethics to Albany, New York, home of the state capital.
And because of his previous track record, many people believed he could.
But every ounce of credibility he acquired during his career evaporated the moment he was caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel.
As the New York Times reported:
The idea that Gov. Eliot Spitzer…was somehow involved in a prostitution scandal was too much. New Yorkers who thought they had heard everything were, for a change, dumbfounded.
For a man who cemented his reputation with aggressive prosecution of wrong doing…who once seemed to stand above the tawdry universe of politics…who drug a whole lot of people through the mud…the hypocrisy is incredible that he’d fallen from grace in such a low-rent kind of way.
“I feel betrayed” was a common sentiment among New Yorkers. And it did not take long for Spitzer’s opponents to call for his resignation.
God: Perfectly Positioned to Be Our Judge
God, on the other hand, will never be called to resign. Because, even as a human, he’s never fallen from grace. Indeed, he was perfectly sinless as Jesus.
Thus, perfectly positioned to be our judge.
The biblical judge is expected to love justice and fair play. He’s expected to loath all ill treatment of one person by another.
Think about it: A corrupt judge who has no interest in seeing right triumph over wrong is, by biblical standards, a monstrosity.
Moreover, a judge who is found to be living a double life–one condemning criminals and one condoning his own crimes–deserves no such respect, honor or admiration.
He SHOULD resign.
However, the judge of the Bible displays 4 characteristics that make Him an impeccable author of justice–and a being far above any charges of corruption or grounds of impeachment:
1. The judge is a person with authority. He is both the Lawgiver and the Judge. That’s God’s nature.
2. The judge is a person identified with what is good and right. The Bible leaves us in no doubt that God loves righteousness and hates iniquity and that the ideal of a judge wholly identified with what is good and right is perfectly fulfilled in Jesus.
3. The judge is a person of wisdom, to discern truth. There is no jury: it his responsibility alone to question, and cross examine. When the Bible pictures God judging it pictures him as a searcher of men’s hearts and the finder of facts. Nothing can escape him. We may fool men, but we cannot fool God. He knows us, and judges us, as we are.
4. Finally, the judge is a person of power to execute sentence. God is his own executioner. Always potent. Always mighty. As he legislates and sentences, so he punishes. All judicial functions pour into him.
But why even have a judge to begin with? Can’t God just overlook our sins? We’ll explore that next week in a post on retribution and grace.
6 Basic Benefits to Studying Your Bible
900,000.
That’s the average number of blog posts published in a 24 hour period.
Tempting to read them all. I know.
Such wonderful, witty wisdom holed up in those nearly one million posts.
But you’d need over 900,000 minutes to read them all (that is if it took 1 minute to read each post…which is about the average time spent on a page here).
In other words, 625 days.
Now, while there are some gems out there, frankly, most blog posts are not useful. Especially if you’re after divine revelation. Or a power that can sustain your daily Christian walk.
The Bible provides that power. And it reveals a rich source of benefits. Benefits you’ll enjoy when you read less blogs (including Fallen and Flawed) and more Bible.
So, what are those benefits? Here are six.
Purpose: In the Bible you’ll find the truth that sets you apart as a believer for a particular purpose, namely, to do what God wants and to hate what God hates.
Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is the truth. John 17:17
God’s Blessing When Obeyed: Once you discover what God calls you to do and you do it, you receive reward. Among those rewards…peace, genuine fellowship and joy.
But He said, ‘On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it’. Luke 11:28
Victory: The truth of Scripture is the weapon you use to defeat the world, the flesh and the devil.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:17
Growth: Crawling through the Scriptures in search of the truth about God cultivates an ever-growing hunger for this truth. Sometimes this growth is rapid. Sometimes it’s slow. But it’s always growing.
Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you grow in respect to salvation. 1 Peter 2:2
Power: In the message of the Gospel you find God’s omnipotence. Which is important. It’s this power–and this power only–that overcomes a man’s sinful nature and gives him new life.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16
Guidance: God’s Word opens our eyes and illuminates our life so we can avoid stumbling.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105
So, what am I missing? What other benefits do you receive when you study your Bible? I look forward to hearing from you.
God’s Truthfulness: A Cure for Your Anxiety and Angst
**Part of The Nature of God: A Quick and Dirty Guide series.**
Anyone remotely acquainted with society at large knows this: the idea of truth is all over the map.
Who’s to blame? I’ve got two hunches: Postmodernism and relativism.
Postmoderns say we can’t know objective truth. Relativists assert all truth claims are valid.
Interesting enough, some people will unintentionally claim to be postmoderns and relativist…
Despite the fact the postmodern manifesto IS an objective statement.
Despite the fact relativism IS the antithesis of postmodern AND a contradiction since two competing truths can’t be true.
No wonder anxiety, angst and apprehension abound in America. As you’ll see, a healthy mankind demands objective truth. Something that can be found in God’s nature.
But before we talk about God’s truthfulness, let’s first define truth.
What Is Truth?
Truth is that which is real and reliable. It’s something that you can verify by experience. That corresponds to reality.
Used of words, truth is telling it like it is. But where experience, pretense or assertion contradict truth, truth always prevails.
In the Bible God’s truthfulness means faithfulness and reliability. And it’s a fundamental moral quality of God. In other words, God is the standard for truth.
Aquinas said, “Whence it follows not only that truth is in Him, but that He is truth itself, and the sovereign truth.”
So, what are the most important things about God’s truthfulness that pastors and parents should teach every man, woman and child? I’m glad you asked.
21 Important Things About God’s Truthfulness
1. Isaiah calls God the “God of truth.”
2. God is simple by nature, meaning he is simple completely and fully. Thus, God must be truthful fully and completely.
3. Since God is both infinite and truthful, then he must be infinitely truthful.
4. God’s truthfulness is a moral attribute–like holiness, wrath, love, mercy and justice.
5. God’s mercy and truth are often joined together in the Psalms. See Psalm 57 and Psalm 89.
6. God cannot lie. So, his commands are true.
7. God will never change. He will always remain truthful. He’s immutable.
8. To be all truthful and never fail, God must be all-powerful. “The true is that which can be depended upon,” Charles Hodges said, “which does not fail, or change, or disappoint. In this sense also God is true as He is immutable and faithful.”
9. God’s truthfulness isn’t dependent upon creation. God would still be truthful if there wasn’t any creation.
10. God reveals his truth progressively. That means the Old Testament teaching was never false, but shadowy and incomplete compared to the revealed truth of the New Testament.
11. God made our souls to live on the practice of worship, law-keeping, truthfulness, honesty, discipline, self-control and service to God and our fellows. He made us in his image. Abandon these practices and we slowly destroy our souls.
12. God’s truth is something we should diligently study so we can be sanctified in the truth and handle it correctly.
13. Jesus promised to send the “spirit of Truth”. In John 15:26 Jesus said, “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me.”
14. God promises that the Holy Spirit will lead believers into the knowledge of all that is true of Christ.
15. God’s truth is the weapon against the father of lies. Martin Luther said, “Truly, in this case, we must not only be well armed with God’s Word and versed therein, but must have also certainty of the doctrine, or we shall not endure the combat.”
16. God has a deep resistance to telling lies. “The divine veracity is more than truthfulness of expression from absolute knowledge.” said John Miley. “It is truthfulness from holy feeling.”
17. God permits and uses deceit to accomplish his will. In 1 Kings 22, God allowed the deceiving spirits of Satan to lead Ahab into battle and his death.
18. Figures of speech where God is compared to a man are appropriate forms of divine communication because they convey a literal truth.
19. Jesus is the Word of God who became flesh. The life of Christ epitomized truthfulness and utter reliability.
20. Everything Jesus said was true. He told the truth He heard from God. And if God cannot speak anything but the truth, what Jesus heard and spoke was truth.
21. Born again Christians are followers of this truth–they hear his voice.
In the end, God’s truthfulness means there IS one objective truth in the midst of multiple and competing truth claims. And God’s personal, immanent nature means we CAN know this objective truth.
Thus, knowing God is faithful and reliable is like putting ballast in the belly of your boat so that you can survive the wicked storm surge of the sea.
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