Last Sunday evening, I read to you a wonderful statement about knowing God by Charles Spurgeon when he was only twenty years of age. (Quoted by J. I. Packer, Knowing God, 17-18.) The young preacher made three points about the value of studying the nature, traits and qualities of God. They are: the study of God humbles the mind, expands the mind and consoles the heart.

Eliphaz said to Job, "Acquaint now thyself with Him and be at peace; thereby good shall come unto thee." (Job 22:21.) Jesus said in prayer to God, "And this is eternal life, that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3.)

The apostle John, in his epistles, wrote much about knowing God. Here are some examples. "And hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know Him but keeps not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him." (1 John 2:3-4.) "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. And everyone that loves is born of God and knows God. He that loves not knows not God for God is love." (4:7-8.) "We love him because He first loved us. If a man says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he that loves not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? This commandment have we from him that he who loves God, love his brother also." (4:19-21.) "We know that we are of God and the whole world lies in wickedness. We know that the Son of God is come and has given us an understanding that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols." (5:19-21.)

We have already emphasized in these studies that what we know about God has been revealed to mankind. No one has any other special privileges or insights than all the rest of us. All may now draw near to God through Jesus Christ the Lord. In the first two introductory lessons on the Nature of God, we have rejected the false notions that God will be whatever you want Him to be and that there are many ways to God.

In order to reinforce the concept that there is only one way to be reconciled to God, Erwin Lutzer told the following story:

"Many years ago two of my daughters and I were in Washington, D. C. where I spoke at a church retreat. Present for the weekend was a member of President Bush’s secret-service detail. He asked us whether we wanted to visit the Oval Office the next day, since the President was out of town. We were honored to accept.

"The next morning we met at one of the gates at the White House. When we stopped at the first guard station, one of my daughters offered her purse to the officer for inspection, but he waved her on. ‘You are with him,’ he said, nodding to the agent, ‘Go on in.’

"Then, as we entered the White House, we met another assembly of guards. They looked at the agent, glanced at us, and said, ‘You are with him. Go on in.’ In the hallway we met more guards. Again they looked at the agent, glanced at us and said, You are with him. Go on in.

"By now we were nearing the Oval Office. I could already see the open door. One more guard stood at the entrance. Glancing at the agent, he too waved us on toward the door with the understanding, You are with him; go on in. Then we set foot in the Oval Office, though we were not allowed to walk far beyond the doorway.

"Now imagine that all believers in Christ were to die together. When we arrive on the other side of the gate called death, Jesus comes to join us on our journey enroute to our heavenly home. We go past one sentry of angels standing guard on the path to the New Jerusalem. They look at Christ, then glance at us and say, You are with Him. Go on in.

"Then we pass another band of angels and yet another. Each time, they look at Christ and then glance at us and say, You’re with Him; go on in.

"Finally, we near the very dwelling place of God. We are almost blinded by what the Scriptures call ‘unapproachable Light.’ For a moment we have a flashback remembering our sins and failures. . . The flashback is so powerful, so real, each of us protests, I cannot go in. I cannot go in!

"But the angels at the gate of the dwelling place of God look at Jesus, then they glance at us and say, You are with Him; go on in. And so it is that Christ ushers us into the presence of Almighty God.

"Don’t ever think that there are many ways to the divine. Jesus is the one qualified Mediator, the only qualified Sacrifice, and the only qualified Savior." (Ten Lies About God, 37-39.)

All of us misrepresent God in our minds and thoughts in that we can never fully know or see in the mind the greatness of God. He is always greater than we think. Whatever our conceptions of God are, the reality is greater than our thoughts! A well-known book is titled, Your God Is Too Small by J. B. Phillips. Paul wrote, "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us." (Eph. 3:20.) The psalmist wrote that his greatness is unsearchable. (Psalm 145:3.) Paul wrote, "How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out." (Rom. 11:33.)

Majesty comes from a Latin word which means greatness. The word is so encompassing and suitable a word that it sometimes stands for God, just as God is said to be love. Love is so central a part of the nature of God in all that is and does that God is said to be love. (1 John 4:8.) Likewise, majesty or greatness so fittingly describes God that He is called Majesty.

"Christ sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven." (Heb. 1:3, 8:1.) When Peter wrote about his experiences at the transfiguration of Jesus Christ, he said, "We were eyewitnesses of his majesty." (2 Peter 1:16.) "The Lord reigns; he is robed in majesty." (Psalm 93:1-2.) "They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works." (Psalm 145:5.) Elihu said, "With God is terrible majesty." (Job 37:22.)

Arthur W. Pink, The Attributes of God, wrote about "the solitariness of God." (pages 9-12.) He pointed out that God in his greatness stands alone. There is none other like Him. Isaiah asked, "To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare unto him?" (40:18.) The children of Israel sang, "Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" (Exodus 15:11.) David said, "Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God. For there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears." (2 Samuel 7:22.) The worshippers of the image of Caesar said in blasphemy against the Lord, "Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" (Rev. 13:4.) This is a common exclamation in Scripture to ask, Who is like unto God? It indicates his singular greatness, unmatched and unsurpassed.

The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit stand alone in their traits. No one else possesses such qualities of power, holiness, wisdom, independence, love, knowledge, glory, presence, etc. God is the "wholly other." Some have described this state which only God occupies as the loneliness of God, but perhaps the solitariness of God is a better way to say it.

The prophet demanded that Israel, Behold their God! (40:9.) God speaks to his people whose mood is much like that of many Christians---despondent people, cowed people, secretly despairing people. When we stop beholding the majesty of God, we will become defeated in life. But when we remember God, we realize that nothing is impossible with God. If God is for us, who can be against us? In the things said that follow the challenge to behold God, five different things are described about God.

Look at the tasks I have done. (verses 10-14.) He tends to his flock like a Shepherd. He carries them close to his heart. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? Who has understood the mind of the Lord? Who has been his counselor? Has anyone taught the Lord?

Look now at the nations. Israel stood in awe at the power of the nations around them, like Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon. On a human level their feelings of inferiority were understandable. Israel was small and insignificant compared to the great world powers who conquered them. But Israel failed to compare the nations to God. The nations are to God as a drop in a bucket. They are regarded as scales. He weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. Before Him all the nations are as nothing. He regards them as worthless and less than nothing.

The prophet reminded them that an idol maker was greater than his idol. But no one has made God. There is none like unto Him. God is saying to Israel that their conception of God is simply too small. It is like a small idol made by the hands of men..

Look at the world. God sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. The prophet Nahum described the clouds as dust around the feet of God. The greatness of God is indeed unsearchable. Below the clouds live six thousand million people whose livelihood is in the hands of God. With all the human activity below, we are but like chirping grasshoppers in the summer sun. We should behold our God.

Look at the world’s great rulers. Men love power and usurp power that belongs to God. They presume to rule over men with their power. They make laws and policies trying to control and manipulate the masses. The earthly rulers have always thought that they determine the way the world will go. But God brings the princes to naught, and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.

Finally, look at the stars. Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens. He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls them each by name. The most universally awesome experience that mankind knows is to stand alone on a clear night and look at the stars. Nothing gives a sense of remoteness and distance. Nothing makes one feel more strongly one’s own littleness and insignificance. Millions of stars; billions of light years in distance. When we talk about distances in space, scientists must use another term, another way to measure it because the distances are so great. The ruler is no longer sufficient. The new term is "light years." It means the distance light travels in a year. Light travels at a speed of 186,282 miles per second. The distances are so great that scientists need years to express the distance rather than minutes or hours.

No wonder the Psalmist wrote, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitches a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat." (Psalm 19:1-6.)

The prophet asked Israel three questions about God in Isaiah 40. Each of these questions rebukes man and exalts the glory of God.

He asked, "To whom then will you liken me, that I should be like him?" (40:25.) This question rebukes wrong thoughts about God. Luther said to Erasmus, Your thoughts of God are too human. This is the common fallacy of human beings. As J. B. Phillips wrote, Your God is too small. God challenges us to correct this and to acknowledge the full majesty of your incomparable God.

Secondly, God asked, "Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord and my judgment is passed away from my God?" (40:27.) This question rebukes wrong thoughts about ourselves. God has not abandoned us. He has not lost interest in man. God is far removed from us, it seems. But the Bible rebukes those thoughts in us. He is not far from any one of us! (Acts 17:27.)

Thirdly, "Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary?" (40:28.) This question rebukes our slowness to believe in God’s majesty. This rebuke is well-deserved. We are slow to believe in the greatness of God. He will give strength to us so that we can soar on wings like eagles, run and not grow weary, walk and not be faint.