TOPIC:‌“The God We Belong To”

                  by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap

 

TEXT:‌Isaiah 57:12-21

 

“For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy” (Isaiah 57:15, NKJV).

 

‌It is interesting to view how people think of God. Most American adults believe in the existence of God. The problem arises when they begin to describe their conception of God. Not knowing the Holy Scriptures where God is revealed and explained, they make up their own views of God. But if people really want to discover what God is like and who He is, they will only find it from a thorough and thoughtful study of the Bible where He is revealed.

 

‌The Jewish people of the Old Testament took the existence of God for granted. They did not question it. Listen as Moses declared: “In the beginning God” (Genesis 1:1). But what really concerned them were the attributes, the character, and the activities of God. That is what I desire for us to look at and consider in this message regarding the God we belong to. What is God like? How can I know Him?

 

I.

 

‌Consider, to begin with, the God we belong to is a MAJESTIC God. Have you ever been confronted with that truth? In Isaiah's description of God in the words of verse 15 three aspects stand out regarding His majesty. There is God's Loftiness - “Thus says the High and Lofty One.” There is God's Eternalness - “Who inhabits eternity.” There is God's Holiness - “whose name is holy.” Let's look at each one of these.

 

‌God is majestic in His LOFTINESS - “the High and Lofty One...I dwell in the high and holy place” (v. 15). In an earlier chapter Isaiah had a vision of God's infinite loftiness. He declared in chapter 6 verse 1: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord.” And notice how he saw God: “sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.” Listen to me: If there is no God in the heavens above us as described by Isaiah, then all of our talk about God within us and beside us is nothing more than the figment of our imagination.

 

‌The God that Isaiah saw and served was a God of infinite elevation. He is above all other gods. He is above nature, angels, humanity and time. He is above everything that is known and unknown. Nothing and no one is above God. To put it in the words of the Apostle Paul: “Who is over all, the eternally blessed God” (Romans 9:5). Or consider the language of Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, who declared: “Lord God of Israel, there is no God in Heaven above, or on earth below like you” (I Kings 8:23).

 

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