The Knowledge of the Holy: The Divine Transcendence
[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.]
It’s been said that our generation has lost it’s reverence for anything holy. No where is that more true than when we approach the topic of transcendence. Because we’ve lost a holy appreciation for God and his nature, we talk little about transcendence. Really, we don’t know what it is. But just because we don’t understand it’s relevance doesn’t mean there is no value in the reality. God is transcendent and appreciating that reality will help us in our journey to know and understand Him.
God is transcendent. What that means is that God is infinitely greater and higher than we are. Tozer says that transcendence is used to describe One thing (God) who is above our created universe. He is quick to point out that words like “above” should loose all of their spatial meaning. God is above us in the way that He is separated from us by His beauty and His grandeur. Tozer goes on to describe how God is so much higher than us, but not by degrees. He is of an entirely different category. Even though the archangel is “above” the worm, God is still a similar distance “above” both because He is uncreated. He alone is perfection.
Tozer goes on to say we are all to comfortable with this transcendent God. He argues that if an angel from around the throne of worship would come to earth, they would find our discussion of anything else but God’s glory puzzling. And if we caught a true glimpse of God as He truly is, it would ruin us for anything but discussing Him. These are the words of the enraptured heart, but again, we should trust the words of an enraptured heart. Tozer also points out that an intimate relationship with God, far from being ruined by the fear of the Lord and the awe of His person, is actually strengthened and maintained by reverence for Him.
I feel like this is important to highlight. We want a God we can know and be close to and I think that a God we can be close to is great, especially since it’s the God scripture describes for us. But God sets up a tremendous paradox: The reason we can draw close to God is because of the death of His Son. Should Jesus not have died in our place, drawing near to God would not be an option. Moses, the man who spoke to God as a man speaks to his friends couldn’t look directly at His glory. No man has ever seen the full display of God’s glory and lived to tell the story. And it’s this radiating glory from this uncreated being that is nothing like us that makes Jesus’ death so incredibly valuable to us. We are now invited in to relationship with this God who should destroy us.
We shouldn’t fear being destroyed by God by drawing near to Him. Rather, we enter into God’s presence with reverence, knowing that the ticket into this relationship was extremely costly. We treasure the access we have with God because we know it is unique and not common. We purify ourselves of our sinful ways out of reverence for the One we stand before. And instead of this separating us from God, it draws us closer.
I know that many would say these thoughts are old-fashioned. The stuff of holiness preachers and legalists. But for those who have spent years drawing near, it’s the stuff of gold that enables people to press on into knowing God. I need this today more than ever. I hope you find encouragement to draw close as well.
So today, ask God to reveal His transcendent nature to you. Ask Him to show you what causes the angels to never stop singing. And ask Him to stir in you a love and fear of the Lord. You won’t be disappointed.
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 14: God’s Omnipresence
Day 15: The Faithfulness of God
Day 16: The Goodness of God
Day 17: The Justice of God
Day 18: The Mercy of God
Day 19: The Grace of God
Day 20: The Love of God
Day 21: The Holiness of God
Day 22: The Sovereignty of God
Day 23: The Open Secrett
The Knowledge of the Holy: The Omnipotence 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.]
In my early days of following Jesus, when someone taught you how to talk to someone about Jesus they would teach you how to talk to people about sin, the need for forgiveness, and how forgiveness only comes through Jesus. Basically they would teach you how to walk others through the “Romans Road.” In the years since those early days, it has become harder and harder to convince people about the reality of Jesus by simply explaining those concepts. Instead, people want what works. They want their lives impacted by something and no matter how true something is, if it doesn’t “work” then they’re not interested.
This is why today’s chapter on God’s omnipotence is so important. Tozer clearly points out that God’s sovereignty (or His ability to rule as a king) is directly related to His omnipotence (His power). If God isn’t powerful enough to make what He wants happen, then He can’t be the king of anything. But it’s exactly because God is almighty (all-powerful) that He can be the true King of kings.
Next Tozer looks at the facts: The phrase “almighty” is used 56 times in the Bible. It is only used of God because God alone is the only being with all the power. He alone is supreme in the universe. Also, because God is infinite, there is no end to God’s power. It is never diminished even when He uses His power or gives it to another. Because of this, God is the source of all power in the universe. The very fabric of creation itself is being held together by His power. His power is so constant and perceptible that secular commentators have taken it for granted and called it “the laws of nature.” That God has power isn’t so much the question as much as our willingness to see it.
Finally, Tozer invites us to consider the implications of the omnipotent God inviting us into a relationship. For those of us who have set our hearts to submit to Jesus and follow Him, God’s omnipotence is a great encouragement. We are following the only being in the Universe able to affect everything. Tozer completes the chapter telling the story of A.B. Simpson, who halfway through life and facing an illness, heard the lines of a negro spiritual extolling God’s power and was struck to the heart. He went and sought God and came away healed.
This is the real truth that we must apprehend. The world (and the church) are tired of hearing about our omnipotent God who we say is powerful, but they never see do anything. The power behind this truth is not in the theology. We all believe God is powerful. The power behind this truth is the demonstration. We have a world utterly burnt out on powerless religion and unfulfilled promises. What the world needs are men and women who have experienced God’s power and aren’t afraid to believe for God to show His power on behalf of others.
How do we do this? As with any part of the gospel that we are not experiencing, faith comes by hearing. We first fill our minds and our hearts with the message the Bible has to share with us about God’s power. As we begin to hear the Bible’s message about God’s power, we increasingly begin to believe that God wants to show us His power. And when we believe God is powerful and will show it, then we will begin to see it. And as we see God’s power displayed, it becomes much easier for us to have confidence in God’s power.
Friends, the world is dying. It doesn’t need theories of God’s power. It needs to see demonstrations of God’s power. If we are to see many people born into the Kingdom of God, they must believe Jesus has the power to reign as King in their lives over every evil thing. And they must see that in our lives before they will believe it in their lives. So join me, would you, in asking God to show us His mighty power in our lives and the lives of those around us. The result will be many others who wish to be part of His Kingdom.
Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down!
How the mountains would quake in your presence!
As fire causes wood to burn
and water to boil,
your coming would make the nations tremble.
Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame!
When you came down long ago,
you did awesome deeds beyond our highest expectations.
And oh, how the mountains quaked!
For since the world began,
no ear has heard
and no eye has seen a God like you,
who works for those who wait for him!
Those are my takeaways. What are yours? Share them in the comment section so we can all grow together.
It’s not to late for you to join in with us. You can catch up in the posts below:
The Knowledge of the Holy Series
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 14: God’s Omnipresence
Day 15: The Faithfulness of God
Day 16: The Goodness of God
Day 17: The Justice of God
Day 18: The Mercy of God
Day 19: The Grace 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
The Knowledge of the Holy: God’s Immutability
[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.]
Today’s chapter features another one of those attributes of God that seems to bleed over from some of the others. God’s immutability simply means that God doesn’t mutate or change. Because God is eternal, however He appears to us now is how He will appear to us throughout history, forever. Not only does God appear to us unchanged throughout history, though, He never changes. God tells the prophet Malachi this very clearly: “I am the Lord, and I do not change…” (Malachi 3:6).
That God is immutable, Tozer tells us, means that God cannot differ from Himself. To change would mean to admit some kind of defect in the Godhead. If God went from bad to better, it would mean God was at one point bad. If God went from better to worse, that would mean God would decrease in His glory. And God certainly is not now more mature than he was thousands of years ago. There is no maturing God described in Scripture.
We come to value and understand God’s immutability when we compare him to man who is always changing. Man is constantly changing, sometimes from worse to better, sometimes from better to worse, and sometimes just maturing. But the old saying is true for man: “Change is the only constant in life.” In this there is hope. God, in His perfection, never changes, nor does He need to. But God uses change for man to offer the hope of a different life, centered around His Son. That change is possible in man and impossible with God is the hope of the Christian life.
As I thought about this reality, I remembered how the writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus Christ is the same, “yesterday, today, and forever,” (Hebrews 13:8). What we can take away from this, though, is that Jesus (and by extension the whole of God) feels the same way about us and our circumstances that He felt about things when He was here on Earth. He’s not capricious, talking one way and acting another. Instead, He is faithful and true. We can always count on Him to be a sympathetic high priest towards us. And that is what can give us confidence and boldness to approach Him in our time of need.
Most of us know people who we couldn’t trust to remain the same. They would act one way in front of us and another when we were gone. Or we know people who act reliably aweful. But God is always the same and because He is good and full of love, we can draw near to Him, trust Him, in a way that is difficult for us to do with another here on Earth.
So spend some time today, enjoying Him for who He is, knowing He will never change. He is always constant and His love for you will never wane.
Those are my thoughts. Let us know yours in the comment section.
It’s not to late for you to join in with us. You can catch up in the posts below:
The Knowledge of the Holy Series
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 11: The Wisdom of God
Day 12: The Omnipotence of God
Day 13: The Divine Transcendence
Day 14: God’s Omnipresence
Day 15: The Faithfulness of God
Day 16: The Goodness of God
Day 17: The Justice of God
Day 18: The Mercy of God
Day 19: The Grace 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 