The Knowledge of the Holy: The Sovereignty of God
[Editor’s Note: This is a 23-Day Series exploring different aspects of God’s nature and personality, using Tozer’s “The Knowledge of the Holy” as a discussion starter. You can read the introduction of the series here.]
What should we think about a God who is infinite, eternal, unchanging, and all-knowing? Do we think that He can be opposed? Can anyone stop Him from having His way? At the end of our time in the Knowledge of the Holy, after hearing about all of the attributes of God and delving into His nature, we come to the place where we have to consider, who can resist His rule? And if someone can, how is that possible? These are the thorny questions that must be answered in order to understand God’s sovereignty.
God’s sovereignty is His ability to reign without being resisted. This by necessity means that God is totally and 100 percent free. We know very little of being totally free. We as Westerners insist that we are free, but forget to quickly in our inter-connected world that the use of our freedoms results in conflict. This conflict proves that we are not truly free, not totally unencumbered by resistance. God has a kind of freedom not dependent on anyone else.
To understand this, we don’t need to look any further than Psalm 115:3: “Our God is in the heavens; He does all that he pleases.” The implication is that God, in His greatness, has no one who can resist Him. And because of this, obviously, things go the way that He chooses. Tozer takes the time to highlight two questions that rear their heads whenever we begin to discuss the fact that God reigns: 1) Why do things that God hates exist if God reigns? and 2) Can humans resist God’s will and if not what are the implications of that?
The first question is easy to answer. Tozer spends time comparing Christianity to another religion where there are two gods, one good and one evil. They both exist and are unleashing good and evil simultaneously. They are both gods, but neither are sovereign for one resists the activities of the other. No such thing exists in Christianity. Instead, we can look at the Bible and see that God has permitted sin to exist. Because sin exists, it changes the world in a way that God would not have it. In His wisdom, this is a choice that God has made, even if we don’t understand why. Some day we will and we will glorify Him for it.
The second question is more complicated. If God is sovereign, then isn’t every human only doing what God wants? And if that is true, then how can man be held accountable for something God willed him to do? Here Tozer delves into the Calvinism/Armenianism debate and tries to reconcile both camps with an analogy of tourists aboard an ocean liner. The people aboard have freedom to choose what they do, but the ocean liner will still depart and arrive at the same place. Tozer paints God as in charge of the macro events and leaving the micro events up to our personal decisions.
And while I love Tozer and have grown greatly from reading Him, this is the one point where I disagree with Him. He seems to in fact almost verbatim recount an argument Paul anticipated: “You will say to me then, ‘Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?’ But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?” (Romans 9:19-21).
Much could be said about this conversation and I would bet millions of hours have been spent on the internet debating these realities. I think a few things should and can be said: No man can come to the Lord unless the Lord is drawing Him (John 6:44), so God exercises His sovereignty here. And yet, somehow in the mystery of the ages, God calls us to make a choice to follow Him and holds us accountable for not choosing Him (Matthew 7:13-14). God isn’t being unfair or evil, He is sovereignly moving to save us from a fate we couldn’t save ourselves from. There will be punishment for those who don’t choose. And some how, through the mystery, God will be sovereign and we will be the benefactors.
I do agree with Tozer though about the need to choose Jesus. This reliance on God’s sovereignty can never produce apathy. Instead, it should produce great confidence in God. We have a God with the power to move the hearts of men. He doesn’t just try to convince men unsuccessfully, He moves them. And because we serve a God as powerful and free as our God is, we should be bold and vibrant in our walk and our message. Jesus has the power to affect the hearts and wills of men. This is good news we must take to heart.
That’s my takeaway today. What’s yours? Leave a comment so we can all grow together!
Day 1: Why We Must Think Rightly About God
Day 3: A Divine Attribute: Something True About God
Day 5: The Self Existence of God
Day 6: The Self Sufficiency of God
Day 9: The Immutability of God
Day 10: The Divine Omniscience
Day 12: The Omnipotence of God
Day 13: The Divine Transcendence
Day 15: The Faithfulness of God
Day 22: The Sovereignty of God
Day 23: The Open Secret
The Knowledge of the Holy: The Holiness of God
[Editor’s Note: This is a 23-Day Series exploring different aspects of God’s nature and personality, using Tozer’s “The Knowledge of the Holy” as a discussion starter. You can read the introduction of the series here.]
Holiness is something we don’t even like to talk about any more. In our contemporary understanding of religion, holiness is the creepy old uncle of Christian virtues. Its the one we all understand a little bit but very few of us want to actually talk about or show to others. This obviously comes from decades of church history where legalism was called holiness and we are in an age where people want to be anything but religious. But holiness, as I hope we’ll see, is the farthest thing from legalism. Holiness is the sign of the life of God in the soul of men and this is the reality we all desperately need.
It would be hard for us to get too far into a discussion of God’s holiness without stopping to remember the story of Isaiah. Isaiah was a prophet of God. He prophesied the true and accurate word of God for five whole chapters before he had an experience that changed his life forever. He had an encounter with God. In this encounter, Isaiah is taken before the throne of God and sees the Lord. He hears the burning angels around the throne declaring the ultimate holiness of God to one another. And it’s in this ecstatic vision that, though Isaiah had prophesied for five chapters already, he is struck with the sinfulness of his life and particularly the sinfulness of his lips. Isaiah needed a clear vision of God in His holiness before he could truly understand his utter sinfulness. This not only caused an acknowledgement of sin, but also a cleansing and a sending. It utterly changed the direction of Isaiah’s life.
Tozer tries to explain God’s holiness, but it’s obvious that it must come by revelation. It’s not something that a man can just explain. He must see it. So Tozer calls us away from futile activities like imagining the most holy thing you can think of and then taking it up another two or three notches. God’s holiness is not shared with anyone. Neither is there a standard of holiness that God must live up to. Instead, what God does is the definition of holiness. He is holy in whatever He does and what He does becomes our definition of holiness.
And because God is holiness Himself, He has made holiness the “moral standard” of health for the entire universe. God knows that His ways are best and that anything outside of His ways will destroy and degrade man and his environment. This is why the rebellion of mankind tainted the universe and unleashed death and decay. And this is why whenever you see systemic revival of the church and awakening in a society, the environment itself undergoes significant transformation. In order for God to preserve His world, He must actively war against that which harms it and this is why God unleashes wrath against sin on the Earth. “The holiness of God, the wrath of God, and the health of creation are inseparably united.”
Tozer goes on to remind us that God is holy with an infinite holiness that has no degrees. This is a holiness we can never hope to achieve. But there is a relative type of holiness that God calls His people to participate in. It comes through the cross and by God imparting it to us. And though these words may not be popular with society at the moment, God still says to His church “You shall be holy, because I am holy,” (1 Peter 1:15-16). None of us will claim true holiness, but in light of God’s command, we have to soberly set out on a journey to grow into His image.
How do we do this? Tozer has some recommendations: Stare at God. Become utterly fascinated with Him and who is He is in His holiness. We become what we look at. So if we stare at Jesus and worship Him in truth, we will become alive from the inside in a way that makes us holy. We also must hide in Jesus. This means naming and repenting of our sin and committing to have no righteousness outside of Jesus. It’s His blood that cleansed us that is the basis for our holiness. As we do these two things, we also allow the Lord to discipline us so that we can grow in His holiness. These three attitudes change us and transform us into a person that is more like God every day.
Today, I’m burdened. I’m burdened by the fact that so much of the church thinks that God’s holiness is just legalism. I hate that the church thinks that holiness is just old-fashioned and prudish. In reality, God’s holiness is burning, shining brightness and glory. It’s full of life and burns away the cancer of sin that chokes out life in a believer. The most fully alive human beings I have ever met have tasted a little bit of God’s holiness and it has changed them forever.
Friends, we need more Isaiahs. We need more men and women who have had a profound encounter with Jesus and have seen Him in His holiness and glory. One glimpse–just one–will strip away every ounce of needing to be cool or well thought of. It will shift our agenda from our own to His. It will unleash prophets who again will declare the things of God.
It’s not just the world who needs conviction of God’s holiness. Much like Isaiah, the people who need to see God’s holiness is us. We talked for a lot of chapters, friends. But are there things about ourselves and our nation(s) that we can’t even see until we see Jesus in His holiness? We need to begin to ask God for more vision. As we do, we will see real life overwhelm the plastic lives of legalism and sin. We will see more cleansing and more sending.
And that is the need of the hour. The Knowledge of the Holy.
That’s my takeaway today. What’s yours? Leave a comment so we can all grow together!
Day 1: Why We Must Think Rightly About God
Day 3: A Divine Attribute: Something True About God
Day 5: The Self Existence of God
Day 6: The Self Sufficiency of God
Day 9: The Immutability of God
Day 10: The Divine Omniscience
Day 12: The Omnipotence of God
Day 13: The Divine Transcendence
Day 15: The Faithfulness of God
Day 21: The Holiness of God
Day 22: The Sovereignty of God
Day 23: The Open Secret
The Knowledge of the Holy: The Love of God
[Editor’s Note: This is a 23-Day Series exploring different aspects of God’s nature and personality, using Tozer’s “The Knowledge of the Holy” as a discussion starter. You can read the introduction of the series here.]
Stop for a second and think about the attributes of God we have discussed so far: one-ness, self-existence, self-sufficiency, eternity, infiniteness, mercy, grace, etc. While all these attributes are awe inspiring, without love, they can at worst be terrifying and at best leave you tepid. Who wouldn’t be fearful of a God who is everywhere, eternal, unlimited, and all-knowing if he was a loveless being? And even if you have such a being who is merciful and full of grace, but doesn’t love you, you’re left with a cold relationship based on your loveless god’s pity. Love is the part of God’s nature that sets Him apart and makes Him desirable.
We have to be careful though. Many, as Tozer has pointed out, have taken John’s statement “God is love,” and have turned that phrase to mean “love is God.” The result has been anything that seems loving, some have turned and worshipped as God. But generic love is not God, but God is full of sincere and fervent love. While “love” has been used to describe just about anything humans do, God’s love acts as God does. Everything He does is done with love.
This love that we experience from God manifests in many ways. Love wills the good of another, so when true love from God rests on our heart, we are able to live without fear because “love casts out fear,” (1 John 4:8). When our knowledge of God’s love and His sovereignty are perfected, we are able to live fearless lives confident that His love will mean our good. God’s love also reminds us that He desires friendship. The fact that God has set His love on us means more than just He is a good person. It means He desires relationship. With you. There are staggering implications to this. Finally, love means that the person who loves takes pleasure in the person He has set his affections on. God is fully pleased with you. There is no more need to try and please. You are as loved as you are ever going to be.
Finally, Tozer reminds us that love never lies dormant. It’s always moving. It’s always extending itself to the one it loves. And this is true of God. Jesus told us “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends,” (John 15:13). And in the cross and since the cross, no one has laid down their life for us more than Jesus. He sacrificed Himself for us, He is always praying for us, and leading us in laying our lives down.
One of the things that makes the topic of love so important is that Christianity is really the only “religion” that is based upon a relationship of love with it’s God. Talk to any Muslim that you know and they don’t really have an understanding of a God who loves them. Many of the other religions have many gods or no god who very seldom enter into relationship. It’s only in Christianity that God has the heart of a Father toward His children. Human beings were made with a need for love. Our need for love was ultimately designed to be fulfilled by God. We remain empty until we receive it.
And this is why it is so critical that we understand God as a God of love. Christianity lived out of a place of encountering God’s love is electric. It changes a person. But Christianity lived outside of experiencing God’s love is like a clanging symbol. It means nothing to the world and frankly it’s irritating. It’s a code of ethics with no cause that changes no one. But when we are touched in our hearts with the warmth of God’s love, it melts our cold hearts and makes us alive on the inside.
When we experience this love, it changes us. Fire begets fire on this walk that we are on and we begin to live out the same principles of love that God has shown us. We will the go want good things for others, we extend friendship to them, we give of ourselves. The worlds finally gets to see people alive from the inside, living out the message of the cross. The result will be stunning. It’s what the world is waiting for.
That’s my takeaway today. What’s yours? Leave a comment so we can all grow together!
Day 1: Why We Must Think Rightly About God
Day 3: A Divine Attribute: Something True About God
Day 5: The Self Existence of God
Day 6: The Self Sufficiency of God
Day 9: The Immutability of God
Day 10: The Divine Omniscience
Day 12: The Omnipotence of God
Day 13: The Divine Transcendence
Day 15: The Faithfulness of God
Day 20: The Love of God
Day 21: The Holiness of God
Day 22: The Sovereignty of God
Day 23: The Open Secret
Cluster Map
Pursuing Glory 