Remember our study on “The Characteristics of God, his nature, his character, and his personality.” Remember we described God as being a “god of integrity.” If you recall, we mentioned “there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts” (II Chronicles 19:7), “God changes not” (Malachi 3:6), and “it is impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:18) as three traits that God had chosen to be part of “his nature, his character, and his personality.” For us, these three traits are “the standard of measure” by which all interpretations of scripture, as they pertain to the “nature, character, and personality” of God, are compared.
There appears to be many misconceptions about the God that so many claim to serve. One of the biggest misconceptions is the belief that the God of the Old Testament is much different from the God of the New Testament. It appears that the God of the Old Testament is portrayed as “a God of wrath.” In stark contrast, the God of the New Testament is portrayed as “a God of love.” Is it possible that God is one way in the Old Testament and completely another way in the New Testament? Many have even stated that as you read through the events of the Bible and the relationships God had with people, God is progressively revealing himself to man. That appears to be great for man today, but what about all those back in the beginning. Did he leave them short in their understanding of who he was? Did he not impress upon them how he operates?
Can it be true that God has progressively revealed himself to man over time? Is it possible that God left “any” of our prior ancestors short in their understanding of who he is? Do you really think that God did not impress upon those before us, how he operates? If this be the case, then God himself has given us an advantage over those who came before us. More importantly, God has shortchanged those who were back in the beginning by not giving them the same opportunity as us. And though it may not appear to be so, our “standard of measure” dictates that God had to reveal himself to those before us in similar or like fashion. If not, then he showed partiality or a preference to one over another, which totally contradicts what we see in our “standard of measure.” The one thing that we have learned, things are not always as they appear to be when it comes to the things and workings of God.
In order for the man to understand what God wants of him, God has to reveal himself to man. In saying that, God had to reveal himself to the first man and then to all men following the first. He could not progressively introduce himself as time went by and not show partiality to those in a future time. This is important because once we know who God is, from the beginning, then we will forever know who God is, because God says, “For I am the Lord, I change not” (Malachi 3:6). This means that whatever God did in the beginning is the same thing that God is doing today, for he is unchanged. If God changes one thing, even in the slightest, that he did from the very beginning, then he lied because he did in fact change. And according to scripture, “there is absolutely no injustice, immorality, unrighteousness, or wrong doings with God” (II Chronicles 19:7). And we find in scripture that God “cannot lie” (Titus 1:2), for “it is impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:18). We trust that you can see from this brief commentary how our “standard of measure” works.
We pray that our commentary will be a blessing to you as well as informative. If blessed by this message, please share so that others may be blessed as well. Amen.
Enjoy your blessings - KW
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