THE ETERNAL NATURE OF GOD.
By C. Castberg
THIS is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” John 17:3. The Holy Scriptures reveal the fact that there is only one true God, the Creator and Upholder of all things. To know this God, and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent, is life eternal. But the bare assent to this fact does not contain in itself the saving power of God. We must become “partakers of the divine nature” by beholding the glory of God. 2 Peter 1:4; 2 Cor. 3:18. “God, who commanded ‘the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.’” 2 Cor. 4:6. But it is “in the face of Jesus Christ” that we see this glory; for “no man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is ‘in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him” (John 1:18), and “the light” of the knowledge of this glory, or as we may also term it, the eternal nature of God, shines into our hearts from the leaves of the sacred Word; hence the admonition of Christ, “Search ‘the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are ‘they which testify of Me.” John 5:39. In searching the Scriptures for testimony in regard to the eternal nature of God, one stands amazed at the richness and grandeur of the theme. We find that God is an eternal being, with no beginning and no end (Ps. 90:2, 4); that He is everywhere, and that He inhabits the present moment with all His eternal greatness (Ex. 3:14, 15; Isa. 57:15); that He has life in Himself, and that He is self-existent, and imparts life to all living substance (John 5:26; Acts 17:24–28; Jer. 10:10; 1 Tim. 6:16; Col. 3:4); that His plans and purposes are eternal, and that His truth and dealings are forever changeless (James 1:17); that the eternity of God is beyond human comprehension, and that His existence is independent of time. Job 36:26; Ps. 90:4. Not only the Scriptures, but nature itself is a revelation of God. “For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are ‘clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His ‘eternal power and Godhead.’” Rom. 1:20. “The heavens declare ‘the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork.” Ps. 19:1. In the days of Christ this lesson had been lost sight of. Men had well-nigh ceased to discern God in His works. The sinfulness of humanity had cast a pall over the fair face of creation; and instead of manifesting God, His works became a barrier that concealed Him. . . . Not only the things of nature, but the sacrificial service and the Scriptures themselves,—all given to reveal God,—were so perverted that they became the means of concealing Him. And this is as true to-day as at that time. To Adam and Eve, in their Eden home, nature was full of the knowledge of God, teeming with divine instruction. Wisdom spoke to the eye, and was received into the heart; for they communed with God in His created works. As soon as the holy pair transgressed the law of the Most High, the brightness from the face of God departed from the face of nature. The earth is now marred and defiled by sin. Yet, even in its blighted state, much that is beautiful remains. God’s object-lessons are not obliterated; rightly understood, nature speaks of her Creator. Christ’s purpose in parable-teaching was in direct line with the purpose of the Sabbath. . . . The Sabbath bids us behold in His created works the glory of the Creator. . . . On the holy rest-day, above all other days, we should study the messages that God has written for us in nature. We should study the Saviour’s parables where He spoke them, in the fields and groves, under the open sky, among the grass and flowers. As we come close to the heart of nature, Christ makes His presence real to us, and speaks to our hearts of His peace and love.—Christ’s Object Lessons, pp. 17–27. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of ‘the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even ‘as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Cor. 3:18. C. CASTBERG.