God reveals Himself

Ezekiel 45:1–46:24, Revelation 22:1–21, Job 39:11–23, Hebrews 9:13–14

My devotional guide is called “Connect the Testaments” yet sometimes the connections are not obvious except in a general sense. The Bible reveals God to us. It is the written Word of God, just as Jesus is the Living Word of God who is the fuller revelation of God Himself.

With that in mind, I’m reading these passages today and playing ‘I spy God’ to see what they tell me about Him. The first one is a basic ‘natural revelation’ shouting out that the wisdom and power of God is sometimes sharply contrasted by His creation. I’m amused that He uses an ostrich to illustrate what He is not like!

“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love? For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them be warmed on the ground, forgetting that a foot may crush them and that the wild beast may trample them. She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear, because God has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding. When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and his rider.” (Job 39:13–18)

This creature does not display the love of God. Instead of being like an ostrich, God does not abandon His children, nor is He cruel. In contrast, He is wise and understanding and never flees from anything. There are no powers greater than Him. Instead, He laughs, not because He is running faster than His enemies, but because they are ignorant of what He can do.

In the next reading, the words of Ezekiel describe the temple and sacrificial system, which are also a revelation of God. They point less toward His character and more toward His concern for mankind’s problem with sin.

“Thus says the Lord God: In the first month, on the first day of the month, you shall take a bull from the herd without blemish, and purify the sanctuary. The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and the posts of the gate of the inner court. You shall do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who has sinned through error or ignorance; so you shall make atonement for the temple.” (Ezekiel 45:18–20)

Mention of atonement puts Jesus in my mind. During the OT era, God promised a Redeemer, but He was not yet on the scene. Instead, His people were to believe His promise and give evidence of their faith by making sacrifices for sin. This was an elaborate and detailed activity. These verses show only a tiny part of it.

I am grateful for the Lamb of God who ended the need for the OT sacrificial system. As the NT says, “For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” (Hebrews 9:13–14)

This is the main connection between the Testaments. Before Christ came, the people offered lambs to atone for their sin. Then Jesus arrived; the Lamb of God without blemish who died for the sins of the world. He is the final and perfect sacrifice whose death and resurrection opens the gates of heaven for all who believe. He is the fullness of God’s revelation of Himself and His plan for our redemption.

The last book of the Bible begins with these words: “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.” (Revelation 1:1–2)

Revelation is not so much a revealing of future events but a revealing of God to us in the person of Jesus Christ. It also describes the outcome of my faith using delightful words of hope.

Revelation 22:1–5 says this:  “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”

God reveals Himself in nature, in His history with His people, in His Word and in His Son. When I think God is missing or absent, I just am not paying attention! 

Don’t think God is like me

The Lord is my shepherd . . .  (Psalm 23:1)

David wrote the 23^rd and other psalms as a response to situations in his life. Many times the Lord rescued him from his enemies, including Saul who often tried to kill him. Psalm 18, like Psalm 23, is an offering of praise for those times of protection. 

I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies (1-3) . . .  He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me. (17–19) . . .  This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God? (30–31) . . . The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation— the God who gave me vengeance and subdued peoples under me, who delivered me from my enemies; yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me; you rescued me from the man of violence (46–48).

As I read, modern songs based on these words came to mind. With David, God’s people continue to praise God for being our Rock and Fortress, our Shield and Deliverer. He continues to support us in our troubles and rescue us from our enemies.

David said, “This God – His way is perfect . . .” and I thought on the words, “This God . . .” and wondered about those who worship not “this God” but a God of their own invention. It is the tendency of humans to think God is like us rather than we are made in His image. Because of these ideas, these verses popped out . . .

With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous. For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down. (Psalm 18:25–27)

My dad used to say, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” which can hints that what beholders see might not actually be there. Sadly, beholders can also invent what God is like, and according to David, base it on their own character and qualities. That is, those who are merciful understand God to be merciful, but those who are crooked think that God is like that too. The verses say that God even reveals only that what we think about Him, rather than all there is to know about Him. This gives me much to think about.

It certainly shows me something about my understanding of God. While I would not say this aloud or teach it, I’ve often inwardly viewed Him as one who does not say much or communicate freely. This is not what the Bible says about Him, but deep inside I’ve supposed that He really would rather talk to someone else than me, or not speak at all.

However, when I look in the mirror, I can say that about myself. Much of the time I don’t like talking. These verses shout at me that while this is true about me, but is not true about God. I see Him that way because, according to David’s line of thinking, I do not freely express my own heart. Therefore, God shows Himself to me as one who also does not freely express Himself to me either.

After two months of studying prayer, today’s message is loud and clear. Open up. Talk. Speak to my Shepherd with greater freedom. Stop assuming He will be silence and stop shutting Him out with my silence. Stop mulling over things as if I cannot tell Him all about it. He lives in my heart, and obviously already knows all about everything anyway.

To Live is Christ — reading all that He has revealed

While some Christians never read the Old Testament because they think it no longer has any meaning for them, they might be forgetting that the early Christians had no other Scripture. In fact, the New Testament says,

For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. (Romans 15:4)

Through reading the Old Testament, I learn about the patience (or perseverance) of God and am comforted that He never gives up on His plans.

In this week’s passage, the words of the Lord are directed to the nation of Israel, not to the church. Although these words are about them, I can see specific meaning and instruction in them for me. The passage also reveals much about God. 

Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.’ “But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. (2 Chronicles 7:12–20)

From these verses, I understand that God hears prayer. He also decides where we must worship and how our sacrifices and service ought to be offered to Him.

The passage says that God controls the weather, the activity of insects and presumably the actions of all other critters. He can even send a plague on humanity if He chooses, but He can also reverse all these things and bless the land and its people.

God looks for humble hearts, listens for prayer, waits for repentance and longs for purity and obedience in His people. He wants those who follow Him to uphold His name. He is with us and watches us as we live before Him. He can also establish my position in life, particularly as I obey Him. He is faithful to keep His promises. All these things are to me a comfort and a hope.

This Old Testament passage also warns about idolatry and says He can uproot those who fall away from Him, making their lives a shambles. He warns that the world will notice when God deals with the disobedience of His people.

These warnings to His chosen people are dire and differ in some ways from God’s promises in the New Testament. In it, I am told that God will never leave me or forsake me. This isn’t because He has changed His mind about the seriousness of sin, but because He has changed my mind about sin. Unlike Israel of old, I have the Spirit of God living in me, even the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). Because of that, I don’t want to forsake Him. Further, although I still sometimes sin, by His grace He forgives, restores and renews me each day.

The richness of God’s character and the power of His being as seen in the Old Testament give me great joy and even more reason to celebrate the grace revealed in Jesus Christ. Some parts may not make sense (yet), but God encourages me to keep reading. To know Him more intimately means to read everything that He has revealed about Himself.