Acts 8:26
Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, "Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is desert. NKJV
There is a question that has lingered through the years which has the purpose of attacking the justice of God and the fairness of the Gospel: “What about those who have never heard the name of Jesus?” This question implies that it is not fair for people who have never heard the name of Jesus to be condemned to hell, because they never had a chance. First, this question is built upon an incorrect notion of lostness that people are condemned because they have not accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. People are condemned because they have rejected God who has revealed Himself through creation (Rom. 1), the conscious and the Law (Rom. 2). Therefore, all men are without excuse. Belief in the atoning work of Christ is the remedy of man’s condemnation and not the source. This leads to another question, “What about the man who receives the light given to him and yearns to know the God of creation yet has not heard of Jesus?” This answer to this question can be found in the passage of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8) as we discover that God will get His message to a longing heart. In this text we find that God snatches Philip from a great revival in Samaria and sends him to the desert road toward Gaza. This may appear contrary to modern mission tactics, but God knew there was a heart longing to know more of Him and God sent a missionary with the glorious message of Jesus Christ. For those who accepted the light given to them God will provide more light even if it is to send a missionary in the middle of the wilderness.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Our Immense God
1 Kings 8:27-28
27 "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! 28 Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You today: NKJV
Solomon’s temple was magnificent in its beauty and its size. The finest stones, wood and metals were used in its construction. The Bible's description of Solomon's Temple suggests that the inside ceiling was 180 feet long, 90 feet wide, and 50 feet high. The highest point on the Temple that King Solomon built was actually 120 cubits tall (about 20 stories or about 207 feet) {Jewish Virtual Library}. Although the temple was majestic in human standards Solomon understood it was paltry in comparison to the beauty and the vastness of God. The temple was to be God’s dwelling place on earth, but Solomon knew this was impossible. The temple could not contain God, nor could the earth, nor heaven, nor the heaven of heavens. The sphere of the visual universe is 93 billion light years {Wikipedia, Observable Universe}. God is more vast than all the universe and cannot be contained in space nor time. Yet, the understanding of God’s immenseness did not deter Solomon from crying out to his Creator and pleading with Him to hear his prayer. God may be greater than time and space, yet He hears our every cry no matter where or no matter when. We should each stand amazed as Solomon and even his father who wondered, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?” (Ps 8:3-4 NKJV). We serve an omnipresent God. There is no place where He is not, yet He is concerned enough that He hears the prayer of each of His children.
27 "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! 28 Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You today: NKJV
Solomon’s temple was magnificent in its beauty and its size. The finest stones, wood and metals were used in its construction. The Bible's description of Solomon's Temple suggests that the inside ceiling was 180 feet long, 90 feet wide, and 50 feet high. The highest point on the Temple that King Solomon built was actually 120 cubits tall (about 20 stories or about 207 feet) {Jewish Virtual Library}. Although the temple was majestic in human standards Solomon understood it was paltry in comparison to the beauty and the vastness of God. The temple was to be God’s dwelling place on earth, but Solomon knew this was impossible. The temple could not contain God, nor could the earth, nor heaven, nor the heaven of heavens. The sphere of the visual universe is 93 billion light years {Wikipedia, Observable Universe}. God is more vast than all the universe and cannot be contained in space nor time. Yet, the understanding of God’s immenseness did not deter Solomon from crying out to his Creator and pleading with Him to hear his prayer. God may be greater than time and space, yet He hears our every cry no matter where or no matter when. We should each stand amazed as Solomon and even his father who wondered, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?” (Ps 8:3-4 NKJV). We serve an omnipresent God. There is no place where He is not, yet He is concerned enough that He hears the prayer of each of His children.
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