Infinite in Being and Perfection

Posted under The Rectory Bulletin | Westminster Confession of Faith

Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea. (Job 11:7–9)

Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand? (Job 26:14)

Infinity is a hard thing for the human brain to comprehend. Our lives are so full of limitations, that we take it for granted that all that exists must similarly be limited. We can only be in one place at a time, and we exist only at one place in time. If you look into the heavens on a clear night, slowly the layers of stars reveal themselves and you become increasingly struck by awe at the immensity of it all. It’s hard to imagine the distances you can see, distances so vast that it takes hundreds of years for the light to get to you. If you were to look at Orion, and pick out the middle star of the ‘belt’ you are looking at light which left the star 1,342 years ago. In AD679.

The idea of the infinity of God is rich. It demonstrates his perfection, as he is not limited by anything. There is no lack in his holiness, or possibility that it can be greater. It underpins his eternity, as Psalm 90 testifies: “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” (Psalm 90:2). God’s infinity also undergirds the fact that he is everywhere present, and knows all things. An infinite God is always at hand, and always present to us. As the Psalmist rejoices:

“Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” (Psalm 139:7–10)

Oh what it is to have a God who is infinite and perfect.

Living and True

“But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King.” (Jeremiah 10:10) - “For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” (1 Thessalonians 1:9–10) - God is truth, and since he created the heavens and the earth he alone has the power and authority to define what truth actually is. He is the measure by which we discern what is, and what is not, true.

The World Changed

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24:45–48) - Here then is the resurrection. A physical resurrection, long foretold in the Scriptures. An event which enables those selfsame Scriptures to be truly understood. An event which then puts Jesus - his name - at the core of the unfolding revelation of God, and which sends out the disciples to bear witness to these events. Every church, every Christian that you see today is but an after-echo of that event. The world was changed that day. Will you be changed too?
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