THE
ATTRIBUTES OF GOD
Lesson #7
Our
Infinite, Eternal, Omnipresent God
John 4:24
That
which Elijah prayed, when he both denounced the prophets of Baal and mocked
their God, ought to be the goal and driving ambition of every believer, every
preacher, and every church. “It came to
pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the
prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it
be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and
that I have done all these things at thy Word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that
this people may know that thou art the LORD God” (I Kings 18:36-37). I want
all people to know that the Lord our God is God indeed and that he alone is
God. Let us ever pray that God the Holy Spirit will be pleased to use us to
turn men and women away from the idolatrous vanities of their corrupt
imaginations that they may fall down before the throne of the living God in
reverent faith and adoration.
God’s
greatness is to be seen in those magnificent attributes of his Being which are
essential to him as God and distinguish him from all his creatures. The three
attributes of God that are now under consideration, (Infinity, Eternality, and
Omnipresence), are attributes of God alone. He who is infinite, eternal, and
omnipresent is God. These three magnificent attributes of God are full of
comfort for his children. They are so closely related to one another that they
may be best appreciated when considered together. In John 4:24 the Lord Jesus
Christ tells us, “God is a Spirit: and
they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth.” God does not
have a body, consisting of parts and material substance, as we do. “God is a Spirit.” His spiritual nature
him being the uncreated Spirit by whom all things were made, implies that he is
infinite, eternal, and omnipresent.
GOD IS INFINITE. “When we say
that God is infinite, the meaning is, that he is unbounded and unlimited,
unmeasurable, or immense, unsearchable and not to be comprehended” (John Gill).
God dwells alone in his infinity. There is none before him to limit him, none
after him to limit him, and none above him to limit him (Isa. 443:10; 44:6). As
we have already seen, our great, infinite God is the only totally independent
Being. All things depend upon God; but God depends upon nothing. All things are
of him, through him, to him, and by him; but God dwells alone. All things are
checked by God; but God is checked by nothing. All things are limited by God;
but God is limited by nothing. God is infinite; and he alone is infinite. No
creature is infinite. No thought, word, deed, work, or possession of any finite
creature can be infinite. Indeed, nothing created is infinite. Space is not
infinite. Time is not infinite. Light is not infinite. Darkness is not
infinite. Only God is infinite. Infinity distinguishes God and sets him apart
from all his creatures. We sometimes speak of sin as an infinite evil. But even
that is not strictly accurate. The God against whom we sin is infinite. But sin
is not infinite. Sin is the finite act of finite creatures. However, our sins,
because they are acts of enmity against the infinite God, demand an infinite
satisfaction. That is the reason why none but Christ, the Son of God, could
make atonement for sin. Finite creatures can never render infinite satisfaction
to the infinite God. That is the reason why hell is eternal. The sufferings of
finite creatures in hell can never satisfy the offended justice of the infinite
God (Ezek. 18:23, 32; 33:11). Here is the good news of the gospel - Christ, the
infinite God, our Savior, has rendered infinite satisfaction to God for our
sins by his obedience and death in our nature, as our Substitute before God
(Isa. 53:10). Therefore, all for whom satisfaction has been made must go free.
Complete
atonement Christ has made, The law’s demanded price He paid:
All that His
people owed to God, He satisfied by His own blood.
Christ Jesus
my discharge procured, The whole of wrath divine endured:
The law’s
tremendous curse He bore; Justice can never ask for more!
God
alone is infinite. And God is infinite in all the attributes of his Being.
Everything that God is is infinite. His
understanding is infinite (Psa. 147:4-5). God sees, knows, comprehends, and
understands all things perfectly and at once. “There is no searching of his understanding” (Isa. 40:28). In
comparison with God’s wisdom the wisdom of the heavenly angels is only folly
(Job 4:18). His power is infinite. With
God nothing is impossible. His power has never yet been exerted. All power is
his. He who created one world by his eternal power could have made ten million
worlds. He spoke this one into being and upholds it by the word of his power
(Rom. 1:20; Heb. 11:3). There is no end to God’s infinite power. “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” No.
His power is infinite. His goodness is
infinite (Mic. 7:18-20). I have heard men say, “There is a limit to God’s
goodness.” But that is not so. There may be a limit to your enjoyment of God’s
providential goodness in this world. But there is no limit to the goodness of
God. He is good, eternally good, always good, and infinitely good.
Particularly, he is infinitely good to all his people in Christ. His holiness is infinite. There is none
holy but God. None are pure and righteous before him. Even the holy angels are
not pure in the sight of his infinite holiness (Job 4:17-18). Once we
understand that God alone is holy and that he is perfectly holy, so perfectly
holy that he can receive, accept, and look favorably upon nothing except that
which is perfectly holy (Lev. 22:21; Ps. 24:3-4; Matt. 5:20; Heb. 12:14), then
we know that salvation could be accomplished for us only by an infinite and
perfect Substitute. No man can make himself holy, righteous, and pure in the
sight of God (Job 14:4). Our only hope of acceptance with him is the imputation
of Christ’s purity, righteousness, and holiness to us by the grace of God (Rom.
3:23-26). All who are made pure before God by divine imputation are clothed
with humility before him (Isa. 6:2-3), knowing and confessing that our
acceptance with him is altogether his work (Ps. 115:1). God’s love is infinite (Eph. 3:18). Though God’s love is manifestly
limited to his elect as its only objects (Isa. 43:3-4), his love toward his
elect in Christ is without beginning, without cause, without condition, without
end, and without limit.
Do
you see the unsearchable greatness of our God? He is infinite, immense,
incomprehensible. The heavens cannot contain him, much less our puny minds. God
measures all things; but he is measured by none. God comprehends all things;
but he is comprehended by none. We know him by faith in Christ; but our
ignorance far outweighs our knowledge. God is too big for our brains. No
creature can ever begin to comprehend the infinite God. In heaven’s glory we
will know God in perfection; but even then we will not know him perfectly,
fully, comprehensively. One glory of heaven will be the saints’ ever increasing
knowledge of our great, infinite God. Because he is infinite...
GOD IS ETERNAL. God is not
limited by time. He is eternal. The infinite God is the One who inhabits
eternity. He is the eternal King, the everlasting God (Gen. 21:33; Deut. 33:27;
Isa. 40:28; Rom. 16:26; I Tim. 1:17). That which is eternal is without
beginning, without end, and without succession of time. It never changes. In
this sense God alone is eternal. We speak of eternal happiness for the saints
in heaven and eternal misery for the damned in hell; and the Bible describes
our salvation as the gift from God of eternal life. But the word “eternal,” in
that sense, simply means everlasting. That which is everlasting has a
beginning, but no end. When the Bible speaks of God being eternal, the meaning
is that he comprehends in himself the everlasting past and the everlasting
future (Psa. 90:2). God alone is eternal, without beginning, without end, and
without succession of time or change. Eternity, like infinity and omnipresence,
is an attribute belonging to each of the three persons in the Godhead, the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When we say that God is eternal, three
things are implied.
First,
God is without beginning. There never
was a time when God began to be. He is self-existent and independent. God alone
possesses immortality in the essence of his Being. He has made his angels
immortal spirits and men to be immortal souls. But their immortality and ours
depends entirely upon God. He makes us immortal. But he could annihilate us as
easily as he made us, were it his pleasure to do so. God, however, is
essentially immortal. And he alone is immortal (I Tim. 6:16), because God alone
is eternal. Everything about God, every attribute of his Being, is eternal. His
power is eternal (Rom. 1:20). His knowledge is eternal (Acts 15:18). His mercy
is eternal (Psa. 103:17). His love is eternal (Jer. 31:3; I John 4:16). All
God’s purposes, counsels, and decrees are eternal, too. They are all of old,
even from everlasting (Isa. 25:1: Eph. 3:11). His covenant of grace is an
everlasting, eternal covenant (II Sam. 23:5). His blessings of grace are
eternal blessings (Eph. 1:3). His election is an eternal election (Eph. 1:3; II
Thess. 2:13). His book of life is an eternal book (Rev. 17:8). His salvation is
an eternal salvation (II Tim. 1:9).
Second, as he is without beginning, God is without end. He is called, “the incorruptible God” (Rom. 1:23). God
is over all, blessed forever. His dominion is an everlasting dominion. He is
the most high God who lives for ever and ever (Rev. 4:9-10; 10:6). Let me again
emphasize the fact that God is totally independent. It is a fact that seems to
have been forgotten in this day of spiritual ignorance and darkness. God does
not depend upon any of his creatures for anything. His Being, his glory, his
happiness and his satisfaction are all in himself. He does not need us. Because
he is infinite and eternal, he is independent. Therefore we are assured that...
1.
His counsel stand forever (Psa. 33:11).
2.
He keeps his truth forever (Psa. 146:6).
3.
His covenant stands fast with Christ forever (Psa. 89:28).
4.
He sustains his elect in grace forever (Psa. 89:33-36).
5.
God will be the portion of his saints forever (Ps.
73:25-26).
Third, God is without succession of
time. Time means nothing to the Ancient of Days (II Pet. 3:8). God is not
restricted, limited, constrained, pushed, or hindered by time. Time is his
servant, not his master. Time moves by him. God does not move by time. He never
gets in a hurry, never gets frustrated, is never pushed, and never changes. God
is eternity; and he inhabits eternity. With him there is no beginning of days,
nor end of life. God is eternal.
GOD IS OMNIPRESENT. That simply
means, God is everywhere, at all times, in all the fullness of his infinite,
eternal Being. As he is eternal, unlimited by time, so he is omnipresent,
unlimited by space and place (Acts 17:27-28; Psa. 139:7-10). The Lord Jesus
Christ, God our Savior, this magnificent, infinite, eternal God is to us “a God at hand and not far off” (Jer.
23:23-24; Phil. 4:4). Though his human nature is limited by time and space, his
divine nature is not. He is with us, always, everywhere with us. Our God is gloriously present with his
saints in heaven. He is powerfully present in the exercise of his dominion
throughout the universe (Isa. 66:1). He
is graciously present with his elect throughout the earth in the assembly
of his saints (Matt. 18:20; Rev. 1:13), in the ministry of his gospel (Matt.
28:20; Rev. 1:12), in the trials we must face (Isa. 41:10; 43:1-5), and in the
indwelling of his Spirit. He says, “I
will not leave you comfortless: I will come unto you” (John 14:15-18). He
promises to be with us throughout our time on this earth, through all this
valley of the shadow of death (Ps. 23:6). After this, we shall be with him and
him with us in the perfection of eternal life forever
“The soul that
on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul,
though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no never, no never
forsake!”