Knowledge of the Holy Part 1
The Knowledge of the Holy.
by A. W. Tozer.
PREFACE.
True religion confronts earth with heaven and brings eternity to bear upon time. The messenger of Christ, though he speaks from G.o.d, must also, as the Quakers used to say, 'speak to the condition' of his hearers; otherwise he will speak a language known only to himself. His message must be not only timeless but timely. He must speak to his own generation.
The message of this book does not grow out of these times but it is appropriate to them. It is called forth by a condition which has existed in the Church for some years and is steadily growing worse. I refer to the loss of the concept of majesty from the popular religious mind. The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of G.o.d and has subst.i.tuted for it one so low, so ign.o.ble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men. This she has done not deliberately, but little by little and without her knowledge; and her very unawareness only makes her situation all the more tragic.
The low view of G.o.d entertained almost universally among Christians is the cause of a hundred lesser evils everywhere among us. A whole new philosophy of the Christian life has resulted from this one basic error in our religious thinking.
With our loss of the sense of majesty has come the further loss of religious awe and consciousness of the divine Presence. We have lost our spirit of worship and our ability to withdraw inwardly to meet G.o.d in adoring silence. Modern Christianity is simply not producing the kind of Christian who can appreciate or experience the life in the Spirit. The words, 'Be still, and know that I am G.o.d,' mean next to nothing to the self-confident, bustling worshipper in this middle period of the twentieth century.
This loss of the concept of majesty has come just when the forces of religion are making dramatic gains and the churches are more prosperous than at any time within the past several hundred years. But the alarming thing is that our gains are mostly external and our losses wholly internal; and since it is the quality of our religion that is affected by internal conditions, it may be that our supposed gains are but losses spread over a wider field.
The only way to recoup our spiritual losses is to go back to the cause of them and make such corrections as the truth warrants. The decline of the knowledge of the holy has brought on our troubles. A rediscovery of the majesty of G.o.d will go a long way toward curing them. It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound and our inward att.i.tudes right while our idea of G.o.d is erroneous or inadequate. If we would bring back spiritual power to our lives, we must begin to think of G.o.d more nearly as He is.
As my humble contribution to a better understanding of the Majesty in the heavens I offer this reverent study of the attributes of G.o.d. Were Christians today reading such works as those of Augustine or Anselm a book like this would have no reason for being. But such illuminated masters are known to modern Christians only by name. Publishers dutifully reprint their books and in due time these appear on the shelves of our studies. But the whole trouble lies right there: they remain on the shelves. The current religious mood makes the reading of them virtually impossible even for educated Christians.
Apparently not many Christians will wade through hundreds of pages of heavy religious matter requiring sustained concentration. Such books remind too many persons of the secular cla.s.sics they were forced to read while they were in school and they turn away from them with a feeling of discouragement.
For that reason an effort such as this may be not without some beneficial effect. Since this book is neither esoteric nor technical, and since it is written in the language of worship with no pretension to elegant literary style, perhaps some persons may be drawn to read it. While I believe that nothing will be found here contrary to sound Christian theology, I yet write not for professional theologians but for plain persons whose hearts stir them up to seek after G.o.d Himself.
It is my hope that this small book may contribute somewhat to the promotion of personal heart religion among us; and should a few persons by reading it be encouraged to begin the practice of reverent meditation on the being of G.o.d, that will more than repay the labor required to produce it.
A. W. Tozer
Chapter 1.
Why We Must Think Rightly About G.o.d O, Lord G.o.d Almighty, not the G.o.d of the philosophers and the wise but the G.o.d of the prophets and apostles; and better than all, the G.o.d and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, may I express Thee unblamed?
They that know Thee not may call upon Thee as other than Thou art, and so worship not Thee but a creature of their own fancy; therefore enlighten our minds that we may know Thee as Thou art, so that we may perfectly love Thee and worthily praise Thee.
In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
What comes into our minds when we think about G.o.d is the most important thing about us.
The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man's spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of G.o.d. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of G.o.d.
For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always G.o.d Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives G.o.d to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of G.o.d. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of G.o.d, just as her most significant message is what she says about Him or leaves unsaid, for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech. She can never escape the self-disclosure of her witness concerning G.o.d.
Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, 'What comes into your mind when you think about G.o.d?' we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man. Were we able to know exactly what our most influential religious leaders think of G.o.d today, we might be able with some precision to foretell where the Church will stand tomorrow.
Without doubt, the mightiest thought the mind can entertain is the thought of G.o.d, and the weightiest word in any language is its word for G.o.d. Thought and speech are G.o.d's gifts to creatures made in His image; these are intimately a.s.sociated with Him and impossible apart from Him. It is highly significant that the first word was the Word: 'And the Word was with G.o.d, and the Word was G.o.d.' We may speak because G.o.d spoke. In Him word and idea are indivisible.
That our idea of G.o.d correspond as nearly as possible to the true being of G.o.d is of immense importance to us. Compared with our actual thoughts about Him, our creedal statements are of little consequence. Our real idea of G.o.d may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is. Only after an ordeal of painful self-probing are we likely to discover what we actually believe about G.o.d.
A right conception of G.o.d is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical Christian living as well. It is to worship what the foundation is to the temple; where it is inadequate or out of plumb the whole structure must sooner or later collapse. I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ign.o.ble thoughts about G.o.d.
It is my opinion that the Christian conception of G.o.d current in these middle years of the twentieth century is so decadent as to be utterly beneath the dignity of the Most High G.o.d and actually to const.i.tute for professed believers something amounting to a moral calamity.
All the problems of heaven and earth, though they were to confront us together and at once, would be nothing compared with the overwhelming problem of G.o.d: That He is; what He is like; and what we as moral beings must do about Him.
The man who comes to a right belief about G.o.d is relieved of ten thousand temporal problems, for he sees at once that these have to do with matters which at the most cannot concern him for very long; but even if the multiple burdens of time may be lifted from him, the one mighty single burden of eternity begins to press down upon him with a weight more crushing than all the woes of the world piled one upon another. That mighty burden is his obligation to G.o.d. It includes an instant and lifelong duty to love G.o.d with every power of mind and soul, to obey Him perfectly, and to worship Him acceptably. And when the man's laboring conscience tells him that he has done none of these things, but has from childhood been guilty of foul revolt against the Majesty in the heavens, the inner pressure of self-accusation may become too heavy to bear.
The gospel can lift this destroying burden from the mind, give beauty for ashes, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. But unless the weight of the burden is felt the gospel can mean nothing to the man; and until he sees a vision of G.o.d high and lifted up, there will be no woe and no burden. Low views of G.o.d destroy the gospel for all who hold them.
Among the sins to which the human heart is p.r.o.ne, hardly any other is more hateful to G.o.d than idolatry, for idolatry is at bottom a libel on His character. The idolatrous heart a.s.sumes that G.o.d is other than He is - in itself a monstrous sin - and subst.i.tutes for the true G.o.d one made after its own likeness. Always this G.o.d will conform to the image of the one who created it and will be base or pure, cruel or kind, according to the moral state of the mind from which it emerges.
A G.o.d begotten in the shadows of a fallen heart will quite naturally be no true likeness of the true G.o.d. 'Thou thoughtest,' said the Lord to the wicked man in the psalm, 'that I was altogether such as one as thyself.' Surely this must be a serious affront to the Most High G.o.d before whom cherubim and seraphim continually do cry, 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord G.o.d of Sabaoth.'
Let us beware lest we in our pride accept the erroneous notion that idolatry consists only in kneeling before visible objects of adoration, and that civilized peoples are therefore free from it. The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about G.o.d that are unworthy of Him. It begins in the mind and may be present where no overt act of worship has taken place.
'When they knew G.o.d,' wrote Paul, 'they glorified him not as G.o.d, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.'
Then followed the worship of idols fashioned after the likeness of men and birds and beasts and creeping things. But this series of degrading acts began in the mind. Wrong ideas about G.o.d are not only the fountain from which the polluted waters of idolatry flow; they are themselves idolatrous. The idolater simply imagines things about G.o.d and acts as if they were true.
Perverted notions about G.o.d soon rot the religion in which they appear. The long career of Israel demonstrates this clearly enough, and the history of the Church confirms it. So necessary to the Church is a lofty concept of G.o.d that when that concept in any measure declines, the Church with her worship and her moral standards declines along with it. The first step down for any church is taken when it surrenders its high opinion of G.o.d.
Before the Christian Church goes into eclipse anywhere there must first be a corrupting of her simple basic theology. She simply gets a wrong answer to the question, 'What is G.o.d like?' and goes on from there. Though she may continue to cling to a sound nominal creed, her practical working creed has become false. The ma.s.ses of her adherents come to believe that G.o.d is different from what He actually is; and that is heresy of the most insidious and deadly kind.
The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of G.o.d until it is once more worthy of Him - and of her. In all her prayers and labors this should have first place. We do the greatest service to the next generation of Christians by pa.s.sing on to them undimmed and undiminished that n.o.ble concept of G.o.d which we received from our Hebrew and Christian fathers of generations past. This will prove of greater value to them than anything that art or science can devise.
O, G.o.d of Bethel, by whose hand Thy people still are fed; Who through this weary pilgrimage Hast all our fathers led!
Our vows, our prayers we now present Before Thy throne of grace: G.o.d of our fathers! be the G.o.d Of their succeeding race.
Philip Doddridge
Chapter 2.
G.o.d Incomprehensible Lord, how great is our dilemma! In Thy Presence silence best becomes us, but love inflames our hearts and constrains us to speak.
Were we to hold our peace the stones would cry out; yet if we speak, what shall we say? Teach us to know that we cannot know, for the things of G.o.d knoweth no man, but the Spirit of G.o.d. Let faith support us where reason fails, and we shall think because we believe, not in order that we may believe.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
The child, the philosopher, and the religionist have all one question: 'What is G.o.d like?'
This book is an attempt to answer that question. Yet at the outset I must acknowledge that it cannot be answered except to say that G.o.d is not like anything; that is, He is not exactly like anything or anybody.
We learn by using what we already know as a bridge over which we pa.s.s to the unknown. It is not possible for the mind to crash suddenly past the familiar into the totally unfamiliar. Even the most vigorous and daring mind is unable to create something out of nothing by a spontaneous act of imagination. Those strange beings that populate the world of mythology and superst.i.tion are not pure creations of fancy. The imagination created them by taking the ordinary inhabitants of earth and air and sea and extending their familiar forms beyond their normal boundaries, or by mixing the forms of two or more so as to produce something new. However beautiful or grotesque these may be, their prototypes can always be identified. They are like something we already know.
The effort of inspired men to express the ineffable has placed a great strain upon both thought and language in the Holy Scriptures. These being often a revelation of a world above nature, and the minds for which they were written being a part of nature, the writers are compelled to use a great many 'like' words to make themselves understood.
When the Spirit would acquaint us with something that lies beyond the field of our knowledge, He tells us that this thing is like something we already know, but He is always careful to phrase His description so as to save us from slavish literalism. For example, when the prophet Ezekiel saw heaven opened and beheld visions of G.o.d, he found himself looking at that which he had no language to describe. What he was seeing was wholly different from anything he had ever known before, so he fell back upon the language of resemblance. 'As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire.'
The nearer he approaches to the burning throne the less sure his words become: 'And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it.... This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.'
Strange as this language is, it still does not create the impression of unreality. One gathers that the whole scene is very real but entirely alien to anything men know on earth. So, in order to convey an idea of what he sees, the prophet must employ such words as 'likeness,' 'appearance,' 'as it were,' and 'the likeness of the appearance.' Even the throne becomes 'the appearance of a throne' and He that sits upon it, though like a man, is so unlike one that He can be described only as 'the likeness of the appearance of a man.'
When the Scripture states that man was made in the image of G.o.d, we dare not add to that statement an idea from our own head and make it mean 'in the exact image.' To do so is to make man a replica of G.o.d, and that is to lose the unicity of G.o.d and end with no G.o.d at all. It is to break down the wall, infinitely high, that separates That-which-is-G.o.d from that-which-is-not-G.o.d. To think of creature and Creator as alike in essential being is to rob G.o.d of most of His attributes and reduce Him to the status of a creature. It is, for instance, to rob Him of His infinitude: there cannot be two unlimited substances in the universe. It is to take away His sovereignty: there cannot be two absolutely free beings in the universe, for sooner or later two completely free wills must collide. These attributes, to mention no more, require that there be but one to whom they belong.
When we try to imagine what G.o.d is like we must of necessity use that-which-is-not-G.o.d as the raw material for our minds to work on; hence whatever we visualize G.o.d to be, He is not, for we have constructed our image out of that which He has made and what He has made is not G.o.d. If we insist upon trying to imagine Him, we end with an idol, made not with hands but with thoughts; and an idol of the mind is as offensive to G.o.d as an idol of the hand.
'The intellect knoweth that it is ignorant of Thee,' said Nicholas of Cusa, 'because it knoweth Thou canst not be known, unless the unknowable could be known, and the invisible beheld, and the inaccessible attained.'
'If anyone should set forth any concept by which Thou canst be conceived,' says Nicholas again, 'I know that that concept is not a concept of Thee, for every concept is ended in the wall of Paradise.... So too, if any were to tell of the understanding of Thee, wishing to supply a means whereby Thou mightest be understood, this man is yet far from Thee.... forasmuch as Thou art absolute above all the concepts which any man can frame.'
Left to ourselves we tend immediately to reduce G.o.d to manageable terms. We want to get Him where we can use Him, or at least know where He is when we need Him. We want a G.o.d we can in some measure control. We need the feeling of security that comes from knowing what G.o.d is like, and what He is like is of course a composite of all the religious pictures we have seen, all the best people we have known or heard about, and all the sublime ideas we have entertained.
If all this sounds strange to modern ears, it is only because we have for a full half century taken G.o.d for granted. The glory of G.o.d has not been revealed to this generation of men. The G.o.d of contemporary Christianity is only slightly superior to the G.o.ds of Greece and Rome, if indeed He is not actually inferior to them in that He is weak and helpless while they at least had power.
If what we conceive G.o.d to be He is not, how then shall we think of Him? If He is indeed incomprehensible, as the Creed declares Him to be, and unapproachable, as Paul says He is, how can we Christians satisfy our longing after Him? The hopeful words, 'Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace,' still stand after the pa.s.sing of the centuries; but how shall we acquaint ourselves with One who eludes all the straining efforts of mind and heart? And how shall we be held accountable to know what cannot be known?
'Canst thou by searching find out G.o.d?' asks Zophar the Naamathite; 'canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than h.e.l.l; what canst thou know?' 'Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son,' said our Lord, 'and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.' The Gospel according to John reveals the helplessness of the human mind before the great Mystery which is G.o.d, and Paul in First Corinthians teaches that G.o.d can be known only as the Holy Spirit performs in the seeking heart an act of self-disclosure.
The yearning to know What cannot be known, to comprehend the Incomprehensible, to touch and taste the Unapproachable, arises from the image of G.o.d in the nature of man. Deep calleth unto deep, and though polluted and landlocked by the mighty disaster theologians call the Fall, the soul senses its origin and longs to return to its Source. How can this be realized?
The answer of the Bible is simply 'through Jesus Christ our Lord.' In Christ and by Christ, G.o.d effects complete self-disclosure, although He shows Himself not to reason but to faith and love. Faith is an organ of knowledge, and love an organ of experience. G.o.d came to us in the incarnation; in atonement He reconciled us to Himself, and by faith and love we enter and lay hold on Him.
'Verily G.o.d is of infinite greatness,' says Christ's enraptured troubadour, Richard Rolle; 'more than we can think; ... unknowable by created things; and can never be comprehended by us as He is in Himself. But even here and now, whenever the heart begins to burn with a desire for G.o.d, she is made able to receive the uncreated light and, inspired and fulfilled by the gifts of the Holy Ghost, she tastes the joys of heaven. She transcends all visible things and is raised to the sweetness of eternal life....
Herein truly is perfect love; when all the intent of the mind, all the secret working of the heart, is lifted up into the love of G.o.d.''
That G.o.d can be known by the soul in tender personal experience while remaining infinitely aloof from the curious eyes of reason const.i.tutes a paradox best described as Darkness to the intellect But sunshine to the heart.
Frederick W. Faber The author of the celebrated little work The Cloud of Unknowing develops this thesis throughout his book. In approaching G.o.d, he says, the seeker discovers that the divine Being dwells in obscurity, hidden behind a cloud of unknowing; nevertheless he should not be discouraged but set his will with a naked intent unto G.o.d. This cloud is between the seeker and G.o.d so that he may never see G.o.d clearly by the light of understanding nor feel Him in the emotions. But by the mercy of G.o.d faith can break through into His Presence if the seeker but believe the Word and press on.
Michael de Molinos, the Spanish saint, taught the same thing. In his Spiritual Guide he says that G.o.d will take the soul by the hand and lead her through the way of pure faith, 'and causing the understanding to leave behind all considerations and reasonings He draws her forward.... Thus He causes her by means of a simple and obscure knowledge of faith to aspire only to her Bridegroom upon the wings of love.'
For these and similar teachings Molinos was condemned as a heretic by the Inquisition and sentenced to life imprisonment. He soon died in prison, but the truth he taught can never die. Speaking of the Christian soul he says: 'Let her suppose that all the whole world and the most refined conceptions of the wisest intellects can tell her nothing, and that the goodness and beauty of her Beloved infinitely surpa.s.s all their knowledge, being persuaded that all creatures are too rude to inform her and to conduct her to the true knowledge of G.o.d.... She ought then to go forward with her love, leaving all her understanding behind. Let her love G.o.d as He is in Himself, and not as her imagination says He is, and pictures Him.'
'What is G.o.d like?' If by that question we mean 'What is G.o.d like in Himself?' there is no answer. If we mean 'What has G.o.d disclosed about Himself that the reverent reason can comprehend?' there is, I believe, an answer both full and satisfying. For while the name of G.o.d is secret and His essential nature incomprehensible, He in condescending love has by revelation declared certain things to be true of Himself. These we call His attributes.
Sovereign Father, heavenly King, Thee we now presume to sing; Glad thine attributes confess, Glorious all, and numberless.
Charles Wesley
Chapter 3.
A Divine Attribute: Something True About G.o.d Majesty unspeakable, my soul desires to behold Thee. I cry to Thee from the dust.
Yet when I inquire after Thy name it is secret. Thou art hidden in the light which no man can approach unto. What Thou art cannot be thought or uttered, for Thy glory is ineffable.
Still, prophet and psalmist, apostle and saint have encouraged me to believe that I may in some measure know Thee. Therefore, I pray, whatever of Thyself Thou hast been pleased to disclose, help me to search out as treasure more precious than rubies or the merchandise of fine gold: for with Thee shall I live when the stars of the twilight are no more and the heavens have vanished away and only Thou remainest. Amen.
The study of the attributes of G.o.d, far from being dull and heavy, may for the enlightened Christian be a sweet and absorbing spiritual exercise. To the soul that is athirst for G.o.d, nothing could be more delightful.
Only to sit and think of G.o.d, Oh what a joy it is!
To think the thought, to breath the Name Earth has no higher bliss.
Frederick W. Faber It would seem to be necessary before proceeding further to define the word attribute as it is used in this volume. It is not used in its philosophical sense nor confined to its strictest theological meaning. By it is meant simply whatever may be correctly ascribed to G.o.d. For the purpose of this book an attribute of G.o.d is whatever G.o.d has in any way revealed as being true of Himself.
And this brings us to the question of the number of the divine attributes. Religious thinkers have differed about this. Some have insisted that there are seven, but Faber sang of the 'G.o.d of a thousand attributes,' and Charles Wesley exclaimed, Glory thine attributes confess, Glorious all and numberless.
True, these men were worshiping, not counting; but we might be wise to follow the insight of the enraptured heart rather than the more cautious reasonings of the theological mind. If an attribute is something that is true of G.o.d, we may as well not try to enumerate them. Furthermore, to this meditation on the being of G.o.d the number of the attributes is not important, for only a limited few will be mentioned here.
If an attribute is something true of G.o.d, it is also something that we can conceive as being true of Him. G.o.d, being infinite, must possess attributes about which we can know. An attribute, as we can know it, is a mental concept, an intellectual response to G.o.d's self-revelation. It is an answer to a question, the reply G.o.d makes to our interrogation concerning himself.
What is G.o.d like? What kind of G.o.d is He? How may we expect Him to act toward us and toward all created things? Such questions are not merely academic. They touch the far-in reaches of the human spirit, and their answers affect life and character and destiny.
When asked in reverence and their answers sought in humility, these are questions that cannot but be pleasing to our Father which art in heaven. 'For He willeth that we be occupied in knowing and loving,' wrote Julian of Norwich, 'till the time that we shall be fulfilled in heaven.... For of all things the beholding and the loving of the Maker maketh the soul to seem less in his own sight, and most filleth him with reverent dread and true meekness; with plenty of charity for his fellow Christians. 'To our questions G.o.d has provided answers; not all the answers, certainly, but enough to satisfy our intellects and ravish our hearts. These answers He has provided in nature, in the Scriptures, and in the person of His Son.
The idea that G.o.d reveals Himself in the creation is not held with much vigor by modern Christians; but it is, nevertheless, set forth in the inspired Word, especially in the writings of David and Isaiah in the Old Testament and in Paul's Epistle to the Romans in the New. In the Holy Scriptures the revelation is clearer: The heavens declare Thy glory, Lord, In every star Thy wisdom shines; But when our eyes behold Thy Word, We read Thy name in fairer lines.
Isaac Watts And it is a sacred and indispensable part of the Christian message that the full sun-blaze of revelation came at the incarnation when the Eternal Word became flesh to dwell among us.
Though G.o.d in this threefold revelation has provided answers to our questions concerning Him, the answers by no means lie on the surface. They must be sought by prayer, by long meditation on the written Word, and by earnest and well-disciplined labor. However brightly the light may shine, it can be seen only by those who are spiritually prepared to receive it.
'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see G.o.d.'
If we would think accurately about the attributes of G.o.d, we must learn to reject certain words that are sure to come crowding into our minds - such words as trait, characteristic, quality, words which are proper and necessary when we are considering created beings but altogether inappropriate when we are thinking about G.o.d. We must break ourselves of the habit of thinking of the Creator as we think of His creatures. It is probably impossible to think without words, but if we permit ourselves to think with the wrong words, we shall soon be entertaining erroneous thoughts; for words, which are given us for the expression of thought, have a habit of going beyond their proper bounds and determining the content of thought. 'As nothing is more easy than to think,' says Thomas Traherne, 'so nothing is more difficult than to think well.' If we ever think well it should be when we think of G.o.d.