The First and Best of Beings

(Article for publication week of 5-12-2010 AD)

The first question in the Baptist Catechism is, "Who is the first and best of beings?" And the answer is, "God is the First and Best Beings." (Yes, the Old Baptists had catechisms for instruction. Sadly most Baptists today are doctrinally challenged and a return to our old confessions and catechisms would help. Pastors and deacons, are you listening?)

Well, let us return to the subject. The Bible tells us that God is the First of Beings. Before there were any angels or men, God was. In the ninetieth Psalm, verse two, we read, "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God." There was a time, if it could properly be called time, when there was no one else but God. "From everlasting to everlasting to everlasting" means that God is uncreated. He had no beginning and He will have no end. I Timothy 1:17 informs us that only God is immortal. Strictly speaking, immortality means without beginning or end. Man has a kind of immortality in that we have never dying souls, but in the strictest sense of the word, only God has immortality. God is the First of Beings, for He is eternal. And I might add that when there were no other beings but God, God was perfectly happy and at rest and content with Himself. The Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost was perfectly content with His Own Glorious company and had no need of any other beings. It pleased God to display His Godhead and glory and power and all of His attributes by creating angels and men and animals. But He had no need of any of them. Friend, do you realise the reason God made you was for His Own Glory? You will glorify God eternally either in salvation or damnation. Your first duty is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. You will never really have a happy and fulfilled life until you realise that and start living for God's glory rather than your own.

And God is the best of Beings. Psalm 100:5 says simply, "the Lord is Good". Isaiah 6:3 tells us that God is Thrice Holy. Everything about God is good and holy. When He created a universe He pronounced that it was good. He does good to all His creatures. He is doing good to you. He gives you your life and breath and it is in Him that you live and move and have your being. God treats everybody right, because he deals with everyone according to His holy and righteous law. Neighbour, do you realise how good God has been to you? If you are permitted to draw one breath out of hell, God is better to you than you deserve. God lets you live in His world. He gives you air to breath, water to drink, and food to eat. I wonder how many of you ever take the time to thank God for all His goodness to you. I know if you are a Christian you do. But how many plod their course through this world never mindful of the First and Best of Beings? Please consider what I have written this week and seek the Lord with all your heart.

The Name of God

(Article for publication week of 5-5-2010 AD)

"And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known unto them." (Exodus 6:2,3)

God's name of Jehovah is a most glorious name. It is a name that is it to be used with deep reverence. God has pronounced that the blaspheming of His name will be dealt with in severe judgment (Exodus 20:7). The Israelites in Old Testament times took the third commandment so seriously that they would not take that name on their sinful lips. They considered it too holy to be spoken audibly by us sinners. That sounds a little extreme to us, and they were probably somewhat superstitious in that, but it is far preferable to the lax and irreverent way people use the name of the Lord in our day. When we understand the depth and height and length and breadth of the Name of Jehovah, we will certainly be careful to use it reverently. Psalm 111:9 says, "holy and reverend is His name." (By the way this is the only time the word "reverend " is used in scripture, and it is applied to God, never to men.) Our Lord taught us to pray addressing God "hallowed be Thy name." In His high priestly prayer in John 17, our Lord Jesus Christ addressed His Father as "holy Father." The name of the Lord is to be used with much reverence.

The name Jehovah means that God is eternal. He had no beginning. This is very difficult for our small minds to grasp, but it is the truth of God that He is without beginning. One reason that is hard for us is that everything with which we are familiar has a beginning. We had a beginning ourselves, and it is a difficult truth for our minds to lay hold of, that God is without beginning. Think back as far as you can remember, and God was there. Before recorded history, God was. Before there was a material universe, there was God. It is ironic that some people who try to deny the existence of God believe that matter is eternal! It is actually much more reasonable to believe in an eternal Creator than an eternal universe, if you will just stop and think about it some.

The name of Jehovah also means that God is self-existent. That is, He is uncreated. If He were created, then there must have been one before Him, and that one would be the real God. But there was never any before Jehovah. Being self-existent, God does not depend on any of His creatures for anything. God is sustained by His Own eternal power. If He were hungry, He would ask none of us. He has no need, but if He had, He could supply it Himself. God did not create us, nor anything in His universe for any need that He had, but for His Own Eternal Glory.

Such thoughts are too high for me. Such a God is beyond my limited comprehension. And I just love a God like that! Oh! How sweet to read what God has said in His word about Himself, and to meditate upon His greatness, and to worship Him and pray to Him! I wish everyone knew this God and loved Him. Do you?