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Our Infinitely Great Incomprehensible God Series
Contributed by David Welch on May 11, 2015 (message contributor)
Summary: Fifth in a series on the attributes of God focusing on His incomprehensibility
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Knowing God Series #5
“Our Infinitely Great Incomprehensible God”
Introduction
Today we finish our exploration of the attributes that flow out of the infinite greatness of God.
As I have mentioned before, all I believe that all God’s standard attributes could be deduced from just three of them.
God is infinitely Great
God is infinitely Pure or Righteous
God is infinitely Good
I. The nature of God
II. The Attributes of God
A. God is infinitely great in His ability / capacity
1. God is SELF-EXISTENT
2. God is ETERNAL
3. God is SELF-SUFFICIENT
4. God is IMMUTABLE (unchanging)
5. God is OMNIPRESENT (Available)
6. God is OMNISCIENT (Aware)
7. God is OMNIPOTENT (Able)
It is clear that ultimately a finite mind will never fully comprehend an infinite God.
8. God is INCOMPREHENSIBLE
The Bible clearly declares the fact the God transcends all other beings.
How great are Your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep. Psalm 92:5
God thunders with His voice wondrously, doing great things which we cannot comprehend. Job 37:5
I will extol You, my God, O King; and I will bless Your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless You, and I will praise Your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable. Psalm 145:1-7
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. Romans 11:33-36
Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him;
And to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:6-9
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. Isaiah 40:28
In a culture that seeks to understand and figure out their world, we need to restore the once clear fact that God is beyond any of us. We can never, with our finite understanding and capabilities, hope to understand an infinite God. This applies to every aspect of His nature and attributes.
Someone wrote a book years ago entitled “Your God is Too Small”. Never let your mind shrink God into some manageable being. God explicitly forbid the Israelites to fashion any sort of image to represent God like the pagans. They continually tried to reflect the nature of the demonic entities they worshipped by fashioning some sort of understandable image. We should exercise caution when we try to imagine God or visualize God through physical or mental images. Our God exists far beyond our comprehension. Fortunately He left us with a glimpse of His nature and demonstration of His attributes in His word, His works and ultimately in His Son.
GOD IS GREAT
Many of us grew up with the little prayer.
God is great God is good let us thank Him for our food Amen.
“Great” is a word we used to compare one object to another. It is a measuring word like big, small, wide, long, vast, awesome. We must use words in spite of the fact that God is measureless, infinite and beyond words. It is the only way to describe him to any degree.
These attributes measure how old – eternal, self existent
These attributes measure how big – omnipresent
These attributes measure how smart – omniscient
These attributes measure how strong – omnipotent, self-sufficient
The word used over and over in the Bible for this aspect of God’s character is GREAT! Majestic, Great, High and lifted up. Majesty and majestic also communicate the idea of greatness. Too often we are more impressed with famous people than our infamous infinite God. We think little of God who is great and much of men who are little.
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, His holy mountain. Psalm 48:1
There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like Yours. All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, And they shall glorify Your name. For You are great and do wondrous deeds; You alone are God. Psalm 86:8-10