GRACE GAZETTE
Volume XIIssue 6
Published occasionally for Zion’s mourners
Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Hebrews 12::12-13

THE ETERNAL GOD

The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. Deuteronomy 33:27

When the LORD appeared unto Moses in the burning bush, HE said, “Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” (Exo 3:5) Isaiah recounts his vision of the LORD in this fashion, “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.” (Isa 6:1-4) Then John describes his actions when given the Revelation of JESUS CHRIST, “And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:” (Rev 1:17)

Daniel narrates for us a similar experience that he had by the river, Hiddekel; “Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength.” (Dan 10:8) Then Job, at the end of his great trial, makes this confession, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5-6)

At the burning bush, the LORD identified HIMSELF; when Moses asked who he should tell the Israelites had sent him to lead them out of Egyptian bondage, “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.” (Exo 3:14) These three Hebrew words simply mean “exist who exist” and clearly set forth the very nature of HIM whom Isaiah describes “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place.” (Isa 57:15) This is this same ONE that Paul describes to Timothy, “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (1Tim 1:17) “Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.” (1Tim 6:16)

There is a complete separation between the creature and the CREATOR. This is HE who is HOLY, ( i.e.; set apart.) The HOLINESS of ALMIGHTY GOD is in the fact that HE alone is eternal. Those creatures which Isaiah saw could no more look upon HIM who is eternal than can puny man whom the scriptures describe as “potsherds” (i.e.; broken shards of pottery) HE has no beginning and no ending, thus HE says, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” (Rev 1:8

HE is, in HIS very essence, something that men cannot possibly be nor comprehend. HE is ETERNAL. All of creation is finite and exists because HE makes it to exist, HE simply exists because HE exists.

It is sheer folly for a man to entertain the notion that such a GOD as this could be worshipped according to the dictates of his own mind or as a function of his supposed “free will”. To do so, is to worship a false god. This is exactly why HE told Moses, “thou shalt have no other gods, before me” (i.e.; before my face) and “thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy GOD in vain.” Yet how often do men console one another in each one’s chosen religion, saying we are all worshipping the same GOD.

This is pure nonsense. The true and living GOD cannot be worshipped by men, except in a fashion designed and enabled by HIM. Thus, HE spoke to the woman at the well of Samaria, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24)

The LORD JESUS said it plainly when HE taught the Jews; “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:44) This ONE who is Eternal cannot even be looked upon (or approached) by sinless Seraphims in their own power, let alone one who is dead in trespasses and sins as the scripture describes fallen men. Yet these proud men boast of having decided to follow CHRIST and of giving other men the opportunity to do so. Some even tell us of what they have allowed the LORD to do. This is nothing short of blasphemy and gross ignorance of the ONE who sits upon the throne.

There are many “preachers” today who present the LORD, as ONE who is anxious and hopeful that men will do something that will make HIM able to help them. Many think that HE goes about as ONE whose hands are tied awaiting the “decisions” and “obediences” of men in order to do what HE wants to do. Such foolishness! “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.” (Psa 115:3)

It is impossible that any man could have ever been acquainted with the Eternal GOD except that HE should see fit to reveal HIMSELF to them in JESUS CHRIST the only begotten SON of GOD. “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) Apart from HIS undertaking the redemption of fallen sinners and applying it to them, none should ever have known HIM or been saved.

This is exactly the message which is declared when the gospel of the glory of the Blessed GOD is proclaimed in the earth. HE is the “author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb 12:2) Not only has HE obtained eternal redemption for a people which HE loved from before the foundation of the world, but HE does call them by the power of HIS SPIRIT and they do answer.

Well did the Psalmist say, “Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.” (Psa 65:4) This is that call of which the LORD JESUS spoke, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.” (John 10:27-29)

This is the exact place of safety which Moses wrote of here in Deuteronomy 33:27 when he said, “the eternal GOD is thy refuge” (i.e.; place of safety). Where else can the sons of GOD find a place of peace and rest except in HIM in whom they are given a hope of eternal life? “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” (1John 5:11) “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:2-3)

“And underneath are the everlasting arms”. This is quite a “safety net” for those who have been caused to flee to CHRIST. “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.” (Heb 6:17-18)

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