The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 1 John 3:5,
“You know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.”
From time to time, as many do, I attempt to think of what God could have been like, and set that against what he really is like as I read of him in the pages of Scripture. As a brief activity I always find it a refreshingly wonderful spiritual exercise that helps me appreciate him for who he is and what he is like.
As one of those counted “among the redeemed”, I come from the fallen race of a lost world estranged from God and quite different from those many-splendored qualities that make up God’s character and nature. Cast against what I find in myself and the world around me, he shines in a glorious splendor and majesty this world is clearly unable to comprehend, grasp, understand or deal with. Certainly, the transcendence of glory that reflects his character is breathtaking.
In what we know as Paul’s first letter to Timothy, 6:15-16 we read, “God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.” Our God lives in an “unapproachable light”! Paul should know as one who had true visions of the things of heaven, 2 Corinthians 12:1-6. Just exactly what this “unapproachable light” is, I don’t know for certain, but I suspect it has everything to do with the manifestation of God’s glory and that which is expressed in his wonderful qualities.
One such quality is that he is perfectly consistent with himself!
If we define sin as that which is un-godlike, whether thoughts, words and deeds, etc. then, from my verse today, I understand God as perfectly consistent with himself, “in him is no sin.” What might it be like to serve a god who shifted, who had shadows in his character, who changed from time to time? What if God was like us, expressing that which is good and right and then did something else from time to time? What might an eternal existence be like spent with a god like that?
But not our God! All of the law we read of, in the pages of Scripture, reflect his character and nature. The love, the mercy, the kindness, the compassion we see of him in Scripture reflect his character and nature. The judgments, the devastating execution of his justice reflects his character and nature. And he is always, and always will be, eternally consistent with what we see of his character and nature in the pages of Scripture.
So unlike me. So unlike what we find in the world! As I say, what a refreshingly wonderful spiritual exercise to consider just how different our God is from us! “In him is no sin”!
How wonderful that is!
From time to time, as many do, I attempt to think of what God could have been like, and set that against what he really is like as I read of him in the pages of Scripture. As a brief activity I always find it a refreshingly wonderful spiritual exercise that helps me appreciate him for who he is and what he is like.
As one of those counted “among the redeemed”, I come from the fallen race of a lost world estranged from God and quite different from those many-splendored qualities that make up God’s character and nature. Cast against what I find in myself and the world around me, he shines in a glorious splendor and majesty this world is clearly unable to comprehend, grasp, understand or deal with. Certainly, the transcendence of glory that reflects his character is breathtaking.
In what we know as Paul’s first letter to Timothy, 6:15-16 we read, “God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.” Our God lives in an “unapproachable light”! Paul should know as one who had true visions of the things of heaven, 2 Corinthians 12:1-6. Just exactly what this “unapproachable light” is, I don’t know for certain, but I suspect it has everything to do with the manifestation of God’s glory and that which is expressed in his wonderful qualities.
One such quality is that he is perfectly consistent with himself!
If we define sin as that which is un-godlike, whether thoughts, words and deeds, etc. then, from my verse today, I understand God as perfectly consistent with himself, “in him is no sin.” What might it be like to serve a god who shifted, who had shadows in his character, who changed from time to time? What if God was like us, expressing that which is good and right and then did something else from time to time? What might an eternal existence be like spent with a god like that?
But not our God! All of the law we read of, in the pages of Scripture, reflect his character and nature. The love, the mercy, the kindness, the compassion we see of him in Scripture reflect his character and nature. The judgments, the devastating execution of his justice reflects his character and nature. And he is always, and always will be, eternally consistent with what we see of his character and nature in the pages of Scripture.
So unlike me. So unlike what we find in the world! As I say, what a refreshingly wonderful spiritual exercise to consider just how different our God is from us! “In him is no sin”!
How wonderful that is!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
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