Your ShelfYour Projects

A Real God

8%

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 6, 1908

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 85, No. 6.

Read the full edition

A Real God

By L. D. SANTEE

L. D. SANTEE
HEATHENISM sadly asks concerning the human race, “Out of the darkness, where? Into the darkness, whither?” And in this is summed up their knowledge. Christianity says, “I know whom I have believed.” 2 Tim. 1:12. God and his revelation stand between us and heathenism.
It is neither wicked nor presumptuous in us to learn all that we can about Him whom to know aright is life everlasting—so far as his Word reveals him. “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever.” Deut. 29:29. Again, we are counseled to “acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace.” Job 22:21.
In all ages, the faith of good men has sought lovingly for a closer knowledge of God. Definiteness encourages faith, while ambiguity breeds doubt and indifference. Gladstone, when asked, “What is the greatest hope for the future?” answered, “A living hope in a personal God.” Chas. H. Spurgeon said, “No heart can rest without a personal God.” Professor Garbett, in his work on infidelity, page 91, said, “Anything that does not possess personality must be inferior to ourselves.”
We approach the subject with reverence, yet with confidence, for we are studying his own revelation. While “we see through a glass, darkly,” yet the outlines are clearly defined. Perhaps one of the most insidious enemies that the Christian religion has to meet, is that belief that considers God as the “life principle in nature.” It does not create the prejudice that is felt toward avowed infidelity, and yet its effects are the same. It is a sort of pantheism. Pantheism, as defined by Webster, is, “The universe as a whole is god; the doctrine that there is no god but the combined forces and laws which are manifested in the existing universe.” Many will discourse of “god or nature.” I wonder if they ever stop to think that all forces and laws are immaterial, inorganic, and therefore necessarily unconscious, insensible, and unintelligent. Such is the god that is only a principle. It has neither consciousness, sensibilities, nor intelligence. In sharp contrast with this, is the God of the Bible. The Scriptures are emphatic in declaring that God is a living, personal being. He is called the living God (not the life principle) thirty times. In the study of his Word, I read of his head, hair, throne, garment, feet, hands, voice, eyes, ears, face, mouth, heart, form, and person, and in every one of these texts I find the evidence of a personal God.
Paul, when speaking of Christ, says that he was “the express image of his [God’s] person.” Heb. 1:3. How could this be true if God is not a person? Well has Bishop Balgarnie said, in the Homiletic Review, page 301: “We are driven to the conclusion that there was a form of God from all eternity, and that man was created in the image and likeness of that form divine.”
It is said of Jesus, that he was “in the form of God.” Phil. 2:6. I wish the thought to remain with us that without organization there is no intelligence, without brain there is no mind. When the record states that “God created man in his own image” (Gen. 1:27), it establishes the personality of God just as really as that of man.
His dwelling-place is also plainly stated. In 1 Kings 8 I read the prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the temple. In verse 30 he petitions, “And hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place: and when thou hearest, forgive.” Again, in Deut. 26:15, Moses prays: “Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel.” One more testimony on this point: the prophet says, “I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the hosts of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.” 1 Kings 22:19. Our Saviour taught his disciples to pray, “Our Father which art in heaven.” It is also stated that “Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” Col. 3:1. From our study thus far, it is easy to conclude that God is a real personal being, dwelling in heaven. We could multiply proof on this point, but it is unnecessary.
God gave the sun, and its heat and light ripened the world’s harvests. The heathen, in their darkness, believed that the sun was a god, and the system of sun-worship began. I read in Acts 17:25: “He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.” The heathen mistakenly concluded that life is God; but like the sun, it is only one of his gifts.
His attributes are often spoken of in connection with himself, in such expressions as, “God is a spirit;” “God is love;” “Our God is a consuming fire.” We have some of the same attributes, but in an inferior degree. Were he inorganic, and therefore unconscious, we might well ask, as did the heathen, “Where is their God?” Ps. 79:10. Though infinitely inferior, we are created in the image of the Eternal. Inspiration records him as possessing the same members that we have. Otherwise, we should not be in his image.
In closing, let us notice his omnipresence. How is it possible for a personal being to be everywhere present? The question is easy, for the Bible answers it. David says, “Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?” Ps. 139:7. As the rays of the sun give light over all the earth, so God, by his Spirit, can manifest his power in all parts of his universe without being personally present. Christ speaks of “the spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father.”
Dixon, Ill.