Worshiping the God Who Is

More than once, and most recently just a couple of weeks ago, I have read or been told, “If the god you believe in exists, I would not worship him because he would be a moral monster.” Interestingly, while such statements are made by atheists decrying the “Christian” god, I have more often heard this from angry Arminians who are offended I believe God chose certain people to save before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4), gave them to the Son (John 17:6), wrote their names in the Book of Life before creation (Rev. 17:8), irresistibly draws them (John 6:37), and both justifies and glorifies them despite their manifold faults and the Devil’s interference (Rom. 8:29-30). Moral monster, indeed.

There is a larger issue at stake here, one more basic than the topics commonly claiming attention. The question is whether believing in God—the true and living God, the only God that is, the One who is unchanging, all-powerful, and does whatever He pleases in heaven and on earth (Psa. 135:6)—the question is whether believing in that God is up for debate. Do you believe in the god you worship because you like what you know of him (or her, for all of you goddess worshippers who are not reading this)? If your approval of god’s personality and program is the basis of your faith in him, then let me urge you with great fervency to repent, because you are an idolater. It is not the true God that you serve but one re-made in your own image. You may call him by the same names (e.g. Yahweh, El Shaddai, Lord, Jesus Christ), but so do the cults. You worship the god you want, not the God that is.

We worship God because He is God: almighty, creator, sovereign, and holy (Psa. 96). We love God because He is good: gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy (1John 4:8-10). Woe to us if we reverse the two. We do not choose to worship God because we approve of Him. He is GOD, and He does not need (or crave or even show interest in) our approval (Psa. 50). Thanks be to God that He is loving, He is kind, He is good, because He did not have to be. If He were a tyrant, we would still be obliged to bow before Him. But as it is, we have been brought near to a loving Father who forgives our sins.

If you reject certain doctrines because you do not like them, because they offend your sensibilities or violate what seems right and fair to you, then it is not God that you worship, but a god made in your own image. It is idolatry. God’s reality is objective, not subjective. His character is immutable, not provisional. His work is always right, whether it seems right to us or not. We are called to recognize and worship the God that is, not pretend He is other than what He has revealed. –JME

Jesus is LORD

There is a remarkable statement in John 12:37-38 concerning the deity of Jesus. The text says:

“Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: ‘Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’”

It might be easy to overlook this comment by John if the Old Testament context is not known. The quotation in verse 38 is from Isaiah 53:1. What is truly remarkable about the original quotation and its New Testament application to Jesus is the word used to describe the ‘Lord’ in the passage.

           

There are two Hebrew words in the Old Testament commonly translated Lord in our English Bibles. The first is Adonai which means lord, master¸ or ruler. This word is properly translated Lord in our English Bibles, but it is not the word that appears in Isaiah 53:1. The second Hebrew word commonly translated LORD is Yahweh which is the covenant name of God. This is his actual name, not merely a description of his role, character, or power. Our English Bibles usually translate Yahweh as LORD (all capital letters) because the Jews considered this name so sacred they dared not pronounce it but would substitute the word Adonai when reading aloud. Yahweh is the name of God which appears in Isaiah 53:1, and it is this term that makes the quotation in John 12:37-38 so important.

Jesus is Yahweh. Some people think of Yahweh as the Father alone, but actually Yahweh is the covenant name of the one true God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All three persons of the Godhead are one God, and that one, triune God has revealed himself as Yahweh. So the Father is Yahweh, so is the Holy Spirit, and so is the Son of God, Jesus Christ. We worship Yahweh (Psa. 106:1), the one true God (Deut. 6:4), maker of heaven and earth (Exod. 20:11). This worship belongs not only to the Father but also to the Son (and the Holy Spirit). John 12:37-38 clearly establishes that Jesus Christ is Yahweh. -JME