Immanence of God

Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:23-24)

That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. (Acts 17:27-28)

According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not. (Haggai 2:5)

Immanence:

1. Existing or remaining within; inherent: believed in a God immanent in humans.
2. Restricted entirely to the mind; subjective.

immanence – the state of being within or not going beyond a given domain

immanency (presence) – the state of being present; current existence; “he tested for the presence of radon”

Immanence describes our God, The Master Planner, who is at hand, working through the ins and outs of the lives of His creation to produce a love for and enjoyment of His Word, the Gospel of His Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and Himself. God is not an absentee creator; he is present and actively participating in His world. This is what gives us the rest in the knowledge that there is no place or situation that is too far to be under God’s protecting hand.

O Lord our God, You are our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble; we know that there is no event for which you are absent because if we seek you, if haply we might feel after You, and find You, though You are not far from every one of us and HAND THE ENTIRETY OF OUR BEING INTO YOUR MIGHTY HANDS then we will be able to confidently affirm that “For in him we live, and move, and have our being”

 

 

Righteousness Of God

 

That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? (Genesis 18:25)

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. (Psalm 19:7-9)

To be righteous, or just, is to have that character that leads one to always do that which is right. God’s righteousness (or justice) is the natural expression of His holiness. If He is infinitely pure, then He must be opposed to all sin, and that opposition to sin must be demonstrated in His treatment of His creatures.

However it is important to distinguish between the righteousness / justice of God from His holiness or His goodness

Goodness –

The goodness and love of God are the attributes that He has which act as the anchor or ‘litmus test’ for His other attributes; goodness and love are the features that authenticate every other attribute of God. God is good; God’s mercy is good; God’s grace is good; God’s holiness is good; God’s righteousness is good; God’s immutability is good; God’s justice is good; God’s sovereignty and self-existence are good; God’s eternality is good; God’s omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience and Immanence are good; God’s transcendence is good – AND THEY ALL ARE AS A RESULT OF HIS LOVE: BECAUSE GOD IS LOVE

Holiness-

This is the pure loving nature of God separate from evil. This is our goal, to pursue this great attribute of God –

“Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (I Peter 1:16–25).

For “this then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (I John 1:5).

“Wherefore we labour that . . we may be accepted of Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:9)

“We Labour” – against the instigations; then followed by the accusations of the enemy of our soul; we labour in this 21st century, where the enemy daily perfects his devices to make us walk in the opposite direction to the holiness and righteousness of God; but our loving Father, instead of unleashing His wrath, the manifestation of His holy, moral character against sin upon us at a time when we fall short (unlike man’s unholy anger, it is neither impersonal nor acts on impulse); gives us the opportunity to consider our ways and confidently take hold of His word and confess that:

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2).

Justice –

The mercy and justice of God have never contradicted each other; just as the mercy of God encompasses pity, clemency, forgiveness, kindness, sympathy, understanding, leniency, benevolence; same also goes for His justice – for those who walk on its (Justice of God) path:

I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice. Bestowing wealth on those who love me and making their treasuries full. (Prov. 8:20-21)

In fact, our perfect Creator balances the two qualities with precision. Here again His transcendence and accompanying attributes make it possible for Him to do this easily: Justice is God’s fair and impartial treatment of all people. The justice of God is a necessary connect of His holiness or moral excellence. Since God is infinitely and eternally perfect, He must be impartial in His judgments and always treat His creatures with equity:

Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins. My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart. God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. (Psalm 7:9-11)

Here (in Psalm 7:9-11) we see how Good blesses and rewards they that do good; and His judgment the righteous and vents His anger on the wicked. So where do we place this balance between God’s Righteousness/Justice and His Goodness/Holiness? As it is very likely that our experiences of life, spiritual experiences or exposure to certain erroneous teachings  can naturally make us to tilt to one end of the spectrum or the other:

“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith”. (Romans 1:17)

Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. (Romans 11:22)

it is by faith (substance of things hoped for and evidence of things we cannot see) that we have God’s righteousness manifested to us

GOD’S GOODNESS

His protection and deliverance from the adversaries.                        Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. (2 Thessalonians 1:6-7)

The surety of His promises.                                                                                     Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham; And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous. (Nehemiah 9:7-8)

The reward He gives us for our  faithfulness                                                 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. (Hebrews 6:10)

His provision of  propitiation when our sin was forgiven.                            Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. (Romans 3:25-26)

His justifying the person who has faith in the substitute, Jesus.
“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith”. (Romans 1:17)

His forgiveness of our sins  when they are confessed                                If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

CAUTION

BEHOLDING HIS GOODNESS ONLY – As much as we have the righteousness of God manifested to us as we behold His Goodness, it is spiritually unhealthy for us to only behold His goodness, protection, rewards, forgiveness as it will surely make us fall into the bondage of arrogance, conceited grace, unholy mercy and ultimately ship wreck.

GOD’S SEVERITY

His love of righteousness and perfect hate of sin –
The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men. The Lord trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright. (Psalms 11:4-7)

His  punishment of sins –                                                                                           And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.(Revelation 16:5-6)

CAUTION

BEHOLDING HIS SEVERITY ONLY – As much as we have the righteousness of God manifested to us as we behold His severity. it is unhealthy for us to just only behold His wrath and punishment as this also will surely make us fall into the bondage of becoming ‘sin bashers” denying oneself and others of the goodness of His Grace.

Heavenly Father we pray that you will multiply Your glorious riches in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to us; and fill us with the knowledge of You will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; so that we may be empowered to balance our perception of your righteousness

 

Omnipotence, Omniscience, Omnipresence of God

God is Omnipotent –

God has the ultimate power to do whatever He wills. God’s nature limits His will and as such He cannot do anything that is contrary to His being God, such as sin or ignore sin –

And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. (Revelation 19:6).

Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face. (Psalms 89:14).

There is nothing He cannot do except that which is contrary to His nature. There is no power that can confront Him or His children that is beyond Him: With His power he conquered sin and death. That’s why King David concluded –

God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God. Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work. (Psalms 62:11-12).

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, with men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26).

This is the reason why we can have cast iron believe in His promises and when the enemy comes with his trials, we are able like Job to focus our attention on Him and not our own power to overcome and say:

I know that thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. (Job 42:2).

God is Omnipresent –

As with His infinity He fills the whole of creation which makes it possible for Him to be present everywhere at once –

Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:23,24).

What a relief this is – to know that The One who watches over us can be anywhere our adversaries are at any point in time –

Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:3).

His presence everywhere means He is there even when man sins and no one is present and there is nowhere we can hide to sin that He is not present. The Psalmist observed –

If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. (Psalm 139:8).

God is Omniscient –

As an outcome of God’s omnipresence, His Omniscience means that because He knows all things that can be known in the past, present, future, nothing can escape His knowledge because He is all-seeing, almighty, pansophical, infinite, pre-eminent and wise:

He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite. (Psalm 147:4-5):

Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. (Isaiah 46:10).

Just as He knows everything that can be known of all creatures great and small, even the number of hair on everyone’s head –

Known to God are all his works from the beginning of the world. (Acts 15:18).

He knows our intensions and motives for all our actions. No surprise man keep trying to build a database that is as big as God’s (man’s struggle to “DO IT WITHOUT GOD”), but then –

The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men. (Psalm 33:13).

Taking into account these 3 attributes of God, the Thesaurus comes to the conclusion that our God is:

Almighty

All-knowing, all-seeing, boundless, celestial, deathless, deific, divine, enduring, eternal, everlasting, heavenly, illimitable, immortal, infinite, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, pervading.

Divine

Perfect, all-powerful, almighty, ambrosial, angelic, anointed, beatific, beautiful, blissful, celestial, consecrated, deific, deistic, eternal, exalted, excellent, glorious, hallowed, heavenly, holy, immaculate, magnificent, marvellous, mystical, rapturous, religious, sacramental, sacred, sacrosanct, sanctified, spiritual, splendid, superhuman, superlative, supernatural, supreme, theistic, transcendent, transcendental, trans-mundane, unearthly, wonderful.

Infallible

Unerring, dependable, acceptable, accurate, agreeable, apodictic, authoritative, certain, correct, effective, effectual, efficacious, efficient, exact, faultless, flawless, foolproof, handy, helpful, impeccable, incontrovertible, inerrable, inerrant, perfect, positive, reliable, satisfactory, satisfying, sure, sure-fire, true, trustworthy, unbeatable, un-deceivable, unfailing, unimpeachable, unquestionable, useful.

Knowledgeable

Aware, educated, abreast, acquainted, alert, appreciative, apprised, au courant, au fait, brainy, bright, brilliant, clever, cognizant, conscious, conversant, discerning, erudite, experienced, familiar, in the know, informed, insightful, intelligent, knowing, learned, lettered, omniscient, perceptive, plugged in, posted, prescient, privy, quick-witted, sagacious, sage, savvy, scholarly, sensible, sharp, smart, sophic, sophisticated, tuned-in, understanding, versed, well-informed, well-rounded, wise, with-it.

Learned

Well-informed, abstruse, academic, accomplished, bookish, brainy, conversant, cultivated, cultured, deep, educated, erudite, esoteric, experienced, expert, grave, grounded, highbrow, in the know, intellectual, judicious, lettered, literary, literate, pan-sophic, pedantic, philosophic, philosophical, polymath, posted, professorial, recondite, sage, sapient, scholarly, scientific, sharp, skilled, solemn, solid, sound, studied, studious, versed, well-educated, well-grounded, well-read, well-rounded.

WHAT A MIGHTY GOD WE SERVE AND THAT IS WHY WE CAN SAY:

Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (2 Corinthians 3:17)

We pray this day O Lord that You will continually make 2 Corinthians 3:17 a daily reality for us – Amen

Immutability Of God

 

For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. (Malachi 3:6)

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. (James 1:17)

Immutability – the quality of being incapable of mutation; “Darwin challenged the fixity of species”
immutableness, fixity, unchangeability, unchangeableness, unchangingness, changelessness – the quality of being unchangeable; having a marked tendency to remain unchanged
Unalterability – the quality of not being alterable
agelessness – the quality of being timeless and eternal

Mutability, mutableness (Opposite) – the quality of being capable of mutation

Change takes place by moving from one point or state to another – it has a beginning and end; God cannot change because He is the ‘Alpha & Omega’ (the Beginning and the End); He exists from eternity to eternity.

The Word change in our world from the beginning of creation even more so today, is one that cannot be ignored, since its creation, our world has seen all forms of changes, some we cannot even mention on this forum (or post) due to their negative nature and there are also positive changes. Man himself from birth to death is a catalogue of continuous changes as we grow older we first begin to become bigger, then another kind of change begins to take place which makes us shrink and our hair is whiter, and our eyesight is poorer, and our hearing weaker and we walk more slowly and our shoulders are rounder. When we were younger we understood all the street slangs but due to change, when the young people now speak, we have to beg them to interpret the same language we speak but to which they have added their own different ‘twangs’.

But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. (Psalm 102:27):

But God is perpetually the same. He never changes. His being, and nature, and perfections can’t be altered. Nothing can be added to the infinite God and nothing can be taken from him. What God is today he always was. What God is today he shall always be. He is immutable; that is his state, and he is eternal; that is the measure of his state. It is essential that God is unchangeable.

The Father of lights with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. (James 1:17)

Without it he could not be God. This is one of the excellencies of God which distinguishes him from all his creatures. It distinguishes him from the angels. Yes, they are as sinless as he is, but they are not omnipotent and there was a time when they were not. They began; they changed from nothingness to something; God never began. He is from eternity to eternity, changeless in his attributes and purposes and character. He is everlastingly,

The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. (Psalm 33:11)

Have you listened to Him say:

“For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” Malachi 3:6.

Because:

“Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us” (Hebrews 6:17-18).

Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. (Isa. 46:8-11).

We pray Holy Spirit, that You will continually knock on the door of our heart and make this facts real to us and not just information absolved by just our mind.

Self-Existence of God “I Am That I Am”

The self-existence of God refers to God’s real, perfect, unconditioned independence, or, His total and absolute capability to not need us or the rest of creation for anything, even though we and the rest of creation glorify him and bring him joy. God’s self-existence is also referred to as His aseity (from the Latin words a + se, which mean “existence derived from itself, having no other source”).

It is defined as:
noun ase•i•ty \āˈsēətē, əˈ-\
plural asei•ties \-ətēz\ also aseita•tes

The quality or state of being self-derived or self-originated; specifically : the absolute self-sufficiency, independence, and autonomy of God

And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you. (Exodus 3:14)

“The I AM” the Aseity of God, signifies the real being of God, his self-existence, and that he is the Being of beings; as also it denotes his eternity and immutability, and his constancy and faithfulness in fulfilling his promises, for it includes all time, past, present, and to come; and the sense is, not only I am what I am at present, but I am what I have been, and I am what I shall be, and shall be what I am – Gil

Moses needed this assurance about the one that commissioned him to have a  balance in fulfilling his mission; that balance between the Self-confidence mingled with strong faith and great zeal that led him to murder the Egyptian prematurely and Sinful distrust of God that crept in under the garb of humility years after.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. (Psalm 90:2)

“Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God”;

So are his love, grace, and mercy towards his people, and his covenant with us; and this is as true of Wisdom, our lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Jehovah the Son as of the Father, whose eternity is described in the same manner as his:

The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. (Proverbs 8:22)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. (John 1:1-5)

For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself. (John 5:26)

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. (Colossians 1:15-17)

And Yes – that is where our confidence must come from – ALL THINGS WERE CREATED BY HIM, AND FOR HIM: AND HE IS BEFORE ALL THINGS, AND BY HIM ALL THINGS CONSISTS

We pray this day O Lord that You will multiply Your glorious riches in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to us; and fill us with the knowledge of You will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; so that we may be empowered to know in our inner-man and comprehend with our mind, the fact that our confidence must be a derivative of the facts of Your being self-derived or self-originated; specifically, Your absolute self-sufficiency, independence, and autonomy.