God is infinite
God is infinite
God is infinite (CP Psa 90:2; Isa 57:15). Here God is infinite in time. He is an eternal being (CP 1Ki 8:27). Here God is infinite in presence. This relates to His omnipresence (CP Mt 28:18). Here God is infinite in power. This relates to His omnipotence (CP Ro 11:33). Here God is infinite in knowledge. This relates to His omniscience (CP Psa 145:3-7). Here God is infinite in greatness. We have in these verses ten proofs of the infinite greatness of God: He is great (V3). He is greatly to be praised (V3). His greatness is unsearchable (V3). Every generation shall praise His works (V4). Every generation shall declare His might acts (V4, 6). The Psalmist spoke of the glorious honour of His majesty and of His wondrous works (V5, 6). All men shall speak of the might of His awe-inspiring acts (V6). They shall extol the memory of His great goodness (V7). They shall sing of His righteousness (V7).
God is love (CP 1Jn 4:8, 16). This is the nature of God in His Divine compassion. This love is considered by some to be a moral attribute of God, but it is His essential nature expressed in Him given his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, up to death to provide salvation for His enemies (CP Ro 5:8-11; Eph 2:12-13; Col 1:20-22; Tit 3:3-7; 1Jn 4:9-10). God's plan of redemption from eternity past centres on His essential nature of love. It was this love that conceived the plan of redemption in Christ, and it was in Christ that God gave Himself (CP Isa 7:14; Mt 1:23; Jn 3:16). God's love as revealed in Christ is measureless and passes knowledge (CP Eph 3:14-19). Christ came as the personification of the love that God is (CP Jn 1:18). As we learned earlier in our study on "God is Spirit", the phrase, He hath declared Him in Jn 1:18, means all that Jesus is and does, interprets and explains all that God is and does. Jesus is the manifested glory of God (CP Jn 14:7-11; He 1:1-3). When the love that God is bears with sinners failing to heed God's instructions and warnings, it is called His longsuffering or forbearance (CP Ro 2:4; 9:22; 1Pe 3:20; 2Pe 3:14-15. The whole of God's redemptive plan is Divine love in action. It is an exercise of the Divine will without any cause being able to be assigned, save that which lies in the nature of God Himself (CP De 7:7-8; Ro 5:8-11 with Jn 15:13).
God is a consuming fire (CP He 12:29). This underlines the retributive aspect of the Divine Nature. It is a warning to Christians against rejecting Christ (CP V 12-29). If severe punishment fell upon those who rejected God in the Old Testament, how much more the punishment of those who fail God's grace in Christ in the New Testament. So here Christians are being exhorted to reinvigorate themselves spiritually and walk in the way God has ordained for them to be partakers of His holiness (CP V 9-11 with Pr 4:25-27; Eph 1:4). Strong Christians must never exhibit any spiritual slackness, so that weaker Christians may be encouraged and strengthened in their faith (CP Isa 35:3-4). The term any root of bitterness in He 12:15 refers metaphorically to any Christian apostatising and failing God's grace and inducing others to do the same (CP V 12-15 with De 29:18; He 3:12-13). Esau is used in V 16-17 in He 12 to warn Christians against rejecting God after being recipients of His good things (CP He 6:4-6; 10:26-31; 2Pe 2:20-22). Esau was an example of a profane person - one who lacks an affinity to God (CP Gen 25:27-34; 27:30-40). Esau's birthright was God's blessing upon the firstborn but as Gen 25:34 teaches, Esau despised it, and in despising it, he despised God. He wanted God's blessing, but not God.
In He 12:18-24, Mt Sinai, where God manifested Himself to Moses and gave him the Old Covenant law, is referred to as the mount that might be touched. This simply means that it is a real mountain. Anyone or anything that literally touched it was killed (CP V 18-24 with Ex 19:10-23; 20:18-21; De 4:11-13). Mt Zion is the spiritual mountain where God reigns - the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem (CP He 12:22 with Isa 2:2-3; Rev 14:1). Mt Sinai symbolises the law of bondage under the Old Covenant, whereas Mt Zion symbolises the blessings of God through Christ's shed blood under the New Covenant (CP Ga 4:21-31). The contrast between Mt Sinai and Mt Zion in He 12:18-24 is a warning to Christians not to reject Christ (CP V 25-29 with 6:4-6; 10:26-31; 2Pe 2:20-22).
When referring to God as a "consuming fire" in He 12:29, the writer of Hebrews quoted De 4:23-24 (CP De 4:23-24). Here God is referred to as a consuming fire and a jealous God, provoked to anger against those who reject Him and worship other gods (CP Ex 20:3-5; 34:14; De 5:8-9; 6:13-18; Josh 24:18-20). Calling Himself a jealous God simply means that God will not contend with rivals nor tolerate unfaithfulness. Because of who He is, God assumes the right to demand exclusive devotion to Himself. For New Testament Christians this means being exclusively devoted to the things of God and not the things of the world.
(CP 1Jn 1:5). God is light. This is the nature of God in his Divine character as revealed in Christ. As the chief manifestation of God's light to man, Christ fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy in the Old Testament that light would spring up in the darkness and shine on those who lived in the shadow of death (CP Isa 9:1-2; 49:6; Mt 4:13-17; Lu 8:16; Jn 1:1-9; 3:16-21; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35-36). To walk in darkness is to live in sin and immorality. Those who walk in the light have fellowship with God and experience His grace. They live holy lives in obedience to God's word (CP 1Jn 1:7; 2:3-9; 3:9-10).