“CANST thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?” said Zophar to Job (Job 11:77Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? (Job 11:7)); and yet in the same book we have this exhortation by another of his friends: “Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee” (22:21).
Hermes, the great Egyptian philosopher of very ancient date, said of God: “He is a Circle whose center is everywhere, whose circumference is nowhere.” This eminent student tried to define infinity, and found himself beyond his depth.
He is a fool who denies God’s existence; he is more than a philosopher who personally makes His acquaintance.
Napoleon the First was by no means a religious man, yet he had to confess that he knew, for certain, that every man could not be an atheist, for that he had tried hard and long to believe there was no God without achieving his end. There is an oft-told story of him that will still bear repeating. One night during the progress of the expedition to Egypt he came by surprise upon a group of his officers who, on the quarter-deck of their vessel, were freely discussing infidel notions so prevalent in France both then and since. Striding into the midst of them and pointing upwards to the moon and stars, which, from a cloudless sky, were just then beaming upon the vessel’s deck, “Gentlemen,” he said, “who made all these?”
Yes, who? Truly it is the fool that hath said in his heart, “No God.”
It has been well said by another that “Paley’s watch found on the moor did not more certainly proclaim a watchmaker by its manifest proof of design and contrivance and means adapted to an end than does the world proclaim a world Maker―a Creator―to the thoughtful, unbiassed mind.”
“All worlds His glorious power confess,
His wisdom all His works express.”
But who shall declare Him? Who shall make known His heart and mind? Who shall bring to light His feeling about man? Hear the divine answer, “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 1:1818No 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)).
Would you know God? Then you must come to Christ. Christ is “the image of the invisible God”―the Revealer of the Father. In Him is embodied the fullness of grace and truth. The grace that is in God and the truth, both about God and you, came out in Him. Both were expressed at the cross. It is there that we fully learn God, and only there. But learning Him there we discover that, spite of our sin, He just suits us as repentant sinners. His holiness is not hidden; His righteousness reckons with our guilt in the Person of our blessed Substitute, while His love is clearly manifested before our wondering eyes. “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:88But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)). “Herein is love,” “the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:3939Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:39)).
If God has been pleased to make a full Revelation of Himself in Christ, why not believe in Him? If He has thus been so blessedly declared, why, in unbelief, search further?
If God thus revealed does not suit you; if, with the agnostic of the present day, you still pretend to be “a seeker after truth,” it is only because you are unrepentant. There was never yet a truly repentant sinner on the earth that the gospel of God’s grace did not suit, suit admirably, suit, as men speak, “down to the ground.”
One word more. You may search till your hair is gray; you may reason yourself “down to the grave”; but “except ye repent,” ye shall surely “perish.” Do you hear? “PERISH”!
“Oh ye who walk in darkness,
Ever mourning for your sin,
Open the windows of your soul,
Let the warm sunshine in.
Every ray was purchased for you
By the matchless love of One
Who has suffered in the shadow
That you might see the Sun.”