Revealed truth makes sense . . .

Someone advised me to first read the Gospel of John five times, then Romans two times, then the New Testament. I was a new Christian. I had read the Bible for more than a dozen years yet before Christ came into my life, none of it made sense. Now it did, and that advice was wise.

While Romans is mainly about the major beliefs of Christianity, John is about the identity of Jesus Christ. John wanted his readers to understand that Jesus is a man but no ordinary man; He is God yet God in human flesh, demonstrating it by His words and deeds.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” (John 1:1–2)

As Tozer writes, critics read this and compare it with Genesis where it says God created the heavens and the earth and other verses that say the Word — who is God the Son — created all things, or they read that the Holy Spirit was at work in creation. Some think these are contradictions, but Tozer responds that the Father, Son and Spirit worked together in creation and in human redemption. These three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are ‘consubstantial’ which means they are one in substance and cannot be separated.

However, I’ve learned that this is a revealed truth — it cannot be rationalized. The human brain is unable to process it. Only when God, by His Spirit, opens our hearts, can we be certain this is true even though we cannot explain it.

This week is full of such conundrums. God saved one person’s home from incineration in a raging fire that burned almost everything else. Many were praying for that home, yet I’m certain others were praying for their homes as well. Why did God save one and not the others?

Thirteen young men were dramatically rescued from a watery cave in Thailand, but hundreds have drowned in the rain and flooding in Japan. A large group of children in a camp in Alberta escaped gunmen who fired at them, but many young people have died in school shootings.

Similar comparison could be made regarding car accidents, illness and other tragedies of life. Some survive, some die, most pray and many of those who pray believe in the sovereignty of God, yet the outcome of prayer — while sometimes delightful — can be a total mystery, even to those who know God.

We say things about God’s mysterious ways, yet to those who do not know Him, this seems a cop out. The human mind wants control, predictability, assurance, not a God who seems whimsical.

Reading and rereading John and Romans answers many of my doubts and questions. Jesus reveals the heart of God. We can know the Father and the Spirit by learning about the Son. Christian doctrines also reveal the heart of God. Romans begins with:

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ . . .” (Romans 1:1–6)

In a nutshell, Paul does not try to explain the mysteries, just declares Jesus to be fully man and fully God who came that we who are called to believe in Him can trust and obey what God says and asks of us. Faith is not about reasoning it out but about that trust issue. Is God good? Right? Trustworthy? A good look at Jesus says He is. He makes me look at myself and realize that I am a speck in the universe and compared to God, totally unable to understand things beyond my limited awareness. Who else’s hand will I hold? The choice is simple: it is God’s or my own, and I’d rather be clinging to a Mystery who makes good every promise than the duh looking back from my mirror.

^^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, today begins with this choice and with the certainty that You are trustworthy and I am not. I put my hand in Yours and plan to go wherever You lead me. Already I know that I don’t know where that might be, but I also know that You can be relied on to do whatever is best for me and gives You the glory You deserve!