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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadR.A. Torrey Collection: Torrey, R.A. - What Bible Teaches (About God): 05 -The Personality of God
TOPIC: Torrey, R.A. - What Bible Teaches (About God) (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 05 -The Personality of God
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Ch 05 The Personality of God
WE HAVE SEEN that God is omnipresent. This conception of God must be balanced by the conception of God as a person or we run into Pantheism, i.e., the conception that God is not only everywhere and in everything, but that God is everything and everything is God; that God has no existence separate from His creatures.
I. GOD IS A LIVING GOD.
Jer_10:10-16 — -"But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the Lord of Hosts is his name." (Note the context of verses 3-9, especially 5 and 8-9.) God is here distinguished from idols, which are things, not persons. Idols "speak not," "cannot go," "cannot do good, neither is it in them to do evil"; but Jehovah is wiser than "all the wise men," is "the living God," "an everlasting King," a being who hath "wrath and indignation" separate from His creatures — "at His wrath the earth trembleth and the nations are not able to abide his indignation."
Act_14:15 — "And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein."
1Th_1:9 — "For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God."
2Ch_16:9 — "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him."
Psa_94:9-10 — "He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see? He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?" (and numerous other passages).
Proposition: God is a living God. He hears, sees, knows, feels, wills, acts, is a person. He is to be distinguished from idols, which are things, not persons. He is to be distinguished from the works of His hands which he formed.
Note. Personality is characterized by knowledge, feeling, and will. Some confuse personality with bodiliness.
II. GOD'S RELATION TO HUMAN AFFAIRS.
Jos_3:10 — "And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites."
Dan_6:20-22; Dan_6:26-27 — "And when he came to the den he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions? Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live forever.
My God hath sent His angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt... I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and steadfast forever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end. He delivereth and rescueth, and he speaketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions."
1Ti_4:10 — "For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, specially of those that believe."
Heb_10:28-31 — "He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense saith the Lord, And again, the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
Proposition: God has a present, personal interest and an active hand in human affairs. He makes a path for His people and leads them. He delivers, saves and punishes.
The God of the Bible is not only to be distinguished from the God of the Pantheist, who has no existence separate from His creation, but also from the God of the Deist, who has created the world and put into it all the necessary powers of self-action and development, and left it to itself. God is personally and actively present in the affairs of the universe.
III. GOD AS CREATOR.
Gen_1:1 — "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
Joh_1:13 — "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made."
Proposition: God is the Creator of all existing things.
IV. GOD'S PRESENT RELATION TO THE WORLD HE HAS
CREATED.
Psa_104:27-30 — "These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to the dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth."
Isa_45:5-7 — "I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me. That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me, I am the LORD, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things."
Psa_75:6-7 — "For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the Judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another."
Proposition: God sustains, governs, and cares for the world He has created. He shapes the whole present history of the world.
V. THE EXTENT OF GOD'S CARE AND GOVERNMENT.
Mat_6:26; Mat_6:28-30 — "Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?"
Mat_10:29-30 — "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered."
First Proposition: God's care and government extend to all His creatures.
Gen_39:21 — "But the Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison."
Dan_1:9 — "Now God had brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs."
1Ki_19:5-7 — "And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked, and behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a ruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink and laid him down again. And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee."
Second Proposition: God's care, ministry, and government extend to the individual.
Mat_10:29-30 — "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered."
Third Proposition: God's care, ministry, and government extend to the minutest matters.
Psa_76:10 — "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain."
Gen_50:20 — "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive." (See also Rom_9:17; Rom_9:19.)
Act_2:22-23 — "Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know. Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain."
Job_1:12 — "And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord."
Job_2:6 — "And the Lord said unto Satan, behold, he is in thy hand; but save his life."
Luk_22:3 — "And Satan entered unto Judas who was called Iscariot, being one of the number of the twelve.
Fourth Proposition: God's control and government extend to the wicked devices and doings of evil men and of Satan, and He makes even these work out His own glory and His people's good.
(Compare to Rom_8:28 — "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.")