Living with Tozer's God

Blogpost #16

Chapter 5: The Self-Existence of God

The idea of "God" is not new. The idea that there is more than one God is the invention of man. Man has always been smart enough to realize that there are greater powers at work in this world than man himself. But, he has not been willing to submit himself to the One who said He was the source of it all. He rejected the God he could not control, then set out to find one he could. By refusing to allow for the right answer, he has been forced down one blind alley after another. As Scripture accurately puts it, "Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of God for an image...".

Men realized that they needed sun and rain to grow crops. Drought kills, but so do floods. Too much rain can be as bad as too little. Too much heat can be as deadly as freezing weather, to man and crops. Bugs are essential to the balance of life, but too many becomes a plague. And man found that he could not control any of it. Therefore, the one whom they thought controls was deemed a 'god'. His superior power was acknowledged and his value to man was essential. Being wise, man began to seek this "god" in order to get the blessing he needed to accomplish his goals and prosper. He concluded that if the gods were pleased, he would prosper. He only needed to figure out how to please the "god" of what he wanted. Thus, idolatry was born. It was just dumb! Idolatry is simply man's way of trying to get what he wants from God. He wants to make a deal...on his terms.

As we know from the Bible, this is not at all the way things started. The Bible reveals that there was one God behind everything...and, under God's authority, man did not have to do anything to secure blessings from Him. Blessing and prosperity were the planned, normal order of life "in the beginning". But, that all changed when man rebelled against the authority of God. Sadly, the further man got from that initial experience with the one, true God, the more the foolish thoughts of false gods who could provide "blessings" began to multiply.

But, there is only one God. And that changes everything.

The Apostle John writes these words as the culmination of his vision in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ,

12 "Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. 13 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." Rev 22:12-13 NASU

This is how the Bible ends. It begins in the beginning as God begins it and it ends with the end as God ends it. The Bible is God's history book. As most of us know, the end is not particularly pretty for most of mankind. For the redeemed, the "end" marks a new beginning, a return to a rule of righteousness on earth. We don't know all that this new "kingdom" will involve, but we do know the King and we know that He will be in total control of all of it and He has promised that we will be with Him and share His glory.

The Self-Existent One

As Tozer often reminds us, it's important to get the right perspective of what we know to be true of God. Why? So, we can know what is NOT true. This is not just an academic issue. The majority of the over 7 billion people on the planet do not worship one God, much less the one, true God. To God, this is the ultimate issue in every life: what god are you going to serve? This was at the heart of His dealings with His chosen people.

The first command which God gave to Israel was that they should have "no other gods before Him". Why? Israel had spent 400 hundred years in Egypt and had learned the ways of the Egyptians. The Egyptians had multitudes of gods, including Pharaoh himself believing that he was a god. While Israel didn't worship Pharaoh as a god, they did have a weakness for prosperity and were vulnerable to any "god" who could give it to them.

One of the fundamental reasons for the specific 10 plagues which God brought on Egypt was to confront the major "gods" which the Egyptians worshiped, destroy them totally and establish in the mind of the Israelites that HE alone was the one true God...greater than all the other so-called gods.

But, what is the great distinction between the God of Israel and the other gods? One answer is that He was before all the others. Yes, it's true, the others are really no gods at all. But, even God Himself acknowledges their supposed existence...at least in the minds of the people! That is why He says, "you shall have no other gods before Me."

In the simple, idolatrous minds of men, it makes sense to worship the sun and moon in order to get the blessings which the sun and moon offer. But, they fail to ask the obvious question, "Where did the god of the sun come from?". Once this question begins to surface, the issue of the ultimate beginnings and the origin of all things now has to be answered.

The only religion which offers the ultimate answer is the Judeo-Christian religion. What is their answer? "In the beginning, God...". That's it. In the beginning, God was already there. He is before the beginning and He will be after "the end". The Scriptures clearly declare that "in Him we live and move and have our being (i.e. our existence)"...we are totally dependent... on Him!

The fundamental Christian teaching is that God has no beginning. He exists because He must exist. He is the "uncaused cause" which causes all things. Being self-existent, He is self-sufficient. He needs nothing, so we can provide nothing for Him.

"I am"

When God spoke to Moses to tell him that He was going to deliver Israel from their bondage in Egypt, Moses asked God what he should tell the people; who should he say had sent him? What he was really saying was "how will they know that what I am saying is true? How will I distinguish You from any other god?".

God's answer was timeless. Tell them "I am" has sent you. Tell them the One who was before the beginning has sent you. Tell them the One who lives in the Eternal Present has sent you. Tell them the One who made the Covenant Promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has come to fulfill His promises. Tell them to watch what I will do to deliver them. Then they will know that I am the one, true and living God...and they are my people.

How do we understand the idea of "self-existence"? How do we understand that One exists because they must exist, that apart from Him there is no existence. The best we can do (since we are sorely handicapped by our limited human understanding) is to work from what we can know to what we can't comprehend. We can understand the logic of it. Everything is caused by something else, but, ultimately, there must be an "uncaused cause".

But, logic is not revelation. Our souls will only be satisfied by revelation. What God did for Israel in Egypt was more than logic. He revealed not only that He is the ever living One that inhabits eternity, He revealed that He cared about Israel. He cared about their suffering and affliction and He had determined to free them from their bondage and make them a people for Himself. We can't comprehend the idea of self-existence, but it helps greatly to think of a self-existent Person. The words of Isaiah seem to collect these thoughts well...

10 "You are My witnesses," declares the LORD,"And My servant whom I have chosen,

So that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He.

Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me.

11 "I, even I, am the LORD,And there is no savior besides Me.

12 "It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed,

And there was no strange god among you;

So you are My witnesses," declares the LORD,"And I am God.

13 "Even from eternity I am He,And there is none who can deliver out of My hand;

I act and who can reverse it?" Isa 43:10-13 NASU

Moses might even be clearer in his prayer in Psalms 90:1-2...

"Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.

2 Before the mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,

Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God." NASU

2/26/13