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I'd like to share some thoughts I've had lately on the nature of
God. For instance, I was with some friends recently and we started discussing rather or not Jesus hated. For me, the answer
was obvious. YES!. He hated sin. Here's the kicker though. He hates sin so much because he is love in his essence.
God
is opposed to that which goes against his nature. He is just so he hates injustice. He is merciful so he hates it when we
are not. He is truth so he hates lies. He is rational so he hates irrationality. Might I suggest that the last one I cited,
and the list could go on, would also tell us that Christians are to use our minds and if we are to argue for our faith, make
sure it's a good argument.
With this in mind, I'd like to look at the creation account. We are told that it is not
good for man to be alone. With this, I think of Greg Koukl who says that those of us who are single have made this a life-verse.
He also brings up the story of a lady who knew who jokingly said her life-verse was a part of what Jesus said which was, "If
any man wants to follow me, let him."
First thing to note is that the first thing explicitly called "not good" in
creation was a loneliness and a lack of unity. This hits at the area of sexuality as well. Sex is to be reserved for husband
and wife alone. This is because of a number of reasons that will be looked at.
For one, the unity between husband
and wife is to mirror the unity between Jesus and the church. One cannot enter into the temple of Heaven for worship unless
they are a part of the covenant as Revelation 7 shows. Also, one should not enter the temple of a woman until he is under
a covenant with her.
Needless to say, this does happen. There are several cases of pre-marital sex, extra-marital
affairs, and "living together" with one of the opposite sex you're not married to as if it was a test run for marriage. You
might test run a car but you do not test run people for covenants.
The forcing of the temple is something natural
though considering our condition. We realize our loneliness and that we don't have that other that complements us and we long
to fill that unity. I might point out that single guys like myself need to be honest. I haven't talked to one who doesn't
wonder about the future unity if they have maintained their virginity thus far.
If we are to honor God though and
live in accordance with his covenant, we cannot force the temple and enter into it unlawfully. I urge anyone to check my article
"Desacrating Sacred Temples." on this topic also. In a culture obsessed with sex, we need to be aware of our own desires and
how God put them there to be managed properly.
But I'd also like to bring another point about as well. When we look
at the first chapter of Genesis which is an overview we see several different things described together. We see the sun and
the moon, for instance. We see all manner of creatures as well. God looks at this huge diversity and calls it good.
Now
if something is good because it is in accordance with his own nature, then how do we explain diversity? How do we explain
it even existing? Finitude exists because the unlimited cannot be created. That would be like creating a creature which has
a beginning. Things that are illogical go against God's nature.
But we have diversity. This was the greatest question
of the Greek philosophers. How do we explain unity in diversity? One great question was the question of monism? If one is
the cause why is not all like the one? Is there any difference between being and non-being? However, what if the one was diverse
in himself? Could this not explain diversity in his creation?
Furthermore, we see God values not just diversity as
well for he says, "It is not good for man to be alone." A professor of mine once said that God created man because he needed
someone to love. I objected strongly. (See my article: The Self-Sufficient One.")
God did not need to create man for
company. God has always had company. He's had it within himself. Three persons have always been relating to each other. In
fact, the John 1:1 passage could even read, "In the beginning of the beginnings." Before there was time, there was the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit."
Now if God was "alone" then he had something concering him that wasn't good at one time. He
had his own needs to be met. A God who has needs in his essence is not God. If God lacks anything at all, then he must get
it from something outside himself and that something will have power over him. That something will be the God of God.
So
what are the two good things that God possess that we can see? We can see that God possesses diversity. Throughout the Scriptures
we can often see two people of the Godhead talking to each other and about each other. (Psalm 110, Zechariah 2, and John 1:1
for instance.)
In the midst of all of this though, there is also a unity. God has unity among the persons. There are
three persons but one essence. While this cannot be fully explained, neither can how God eternally existed. Still, it is believed.
It should not be surprising that God has things in his nature that we cannot understand.
This is also why the Virgin
Birth is so important. An angel can have a sin nature and still be an angel. That Satan exists and is called an angel is proof
enough of this. Can God exist though and have a sin nature? Can God have a contradiction within himself? If he did, he would
not be pure. There would be no standard of purity. We could not only throw out God's accordance with purity but also with
all the other attributes as well.
Thus, when God came down to us, it had to be a virgin birth. God wasn't just showing
off. He was doing this for a reason. Now why wasn't Jesus brought into the world like Adam? Because Jesus was meant to be
fully human. Jesus was meant to live a full life in our place so he could pay our price. Adam was also not created virgin-born
because there were no virgins to give birth to him and because he was not God incarnate.
Thus, as we near this holiday
season, let us stop and marvel at the virgin birth and the accordance of the nature of God. Perchance, some of us have never
really thought about it. It is a miracle no doubt, and God is the God of miracles, but he had a divine reason for doing this
as he does for all he does.
And that reason at the heart is simple. He loves you and he loves me and he hates sin
then because it harms us so much and that goes against the way he meant things to be. The situation is so serious that not
only did he choose to come down and solve the problem but he alone could do it.
Thus, may we all enjoy this holiday
season and remember why it happened. The only reason I can state still, is love. He had love for man and love for his own
glory. Both are satisfied in salvation.
In Christ,
Nick
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