In a few minutes we will be going to prayer. Once in a while, when we do that, we need to ask ourselves: “To whom is it that I am praying?” There are millions of people praying to deities which aren’t deities at all – they are idols, ideas or ideologies. So we need to ask: which God is it I am addressing and beseeching. What sort of God is He? Are we only talking to Heaven on our spiritual cell phone, or are we in a face to face conversation with a beloved friend? And even as our closest loved one, is He still the King of king and Lord of lords, to be approached with reverence as well as love?
I could ask that same sort of question in regard to our witness. Who is the God we are sharing with the world? Much of Christian evangelism today, does not share the holy, transcendent God of the Bible. Or perhaps even more closely connected to our scripture, what is the nature of the God who has charged us and given us His commandments? Is He no more important to us than some sort of law-maker, sitting in a white marble building two thousand miles away, telling us to do things which we may or may not consider to be important? Who is this God we worship and serve? Who is this God to whom we have come here to pray?
Paul was bringing this letter to Timothy to a close. He exhorts his young friend: “Follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience (and) meekness.” Then he adds, “I give thee charge in the sight of God… that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” “The Lord is coming back soon – sometime before we die.” So “fight the good fight of faith.”
These are points worthy of time and consideration, but there is something else upon which I have in my sights. Again, who is the God who authorized this charge, and what sort of God has left us these commandments? Paul shares some things here which we us that we need to consider from time to time. Perhaps these divine attributes don’t appear to be directly connected to our commission or to the burdens we are bringing to the throne, but they are always there in Lord. They are always a part of the God whom we serve and to whom we pray. Tonight I am following the trail blazed with the word “who.”
For example, ours is the God who QUICKENETH.
Verse 13 – “I give thee charge in the sight of God, who QUICKENETH all things.” The Greek word translated “quicken” is used a dozen times in the Bible. “Quicken” may not come up this way in everyday English, but it is very easy to understand. In speaking about Jesus’ resurrection, Peter wrote, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but QUICKENED by the Spirit.” And in Jesus’ own words the meaning should become clear – “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and QUICKENETH them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.” When the Lord restores life to someone who has been dead, it is said that they have been “quickened.” So the word means “to give life.” And here Paul tells us that our God is the one “who quickeneth all things.”
More specifically, He is the God “who quickeneth ALL things.” There is nothing living – there is nothing alive – which has gotten its life from some source other than God. Yes, we could talk about fathers and mothers giving life to their children, but the reason that baby was not stillborn was because the Lord determined that it should live. Judy and I watched a documentary the other night, which propounded the idea that forests have mother trees, and they have families, like prides of lions or human households. I was not convinced, but I am convinced that every tree has a Creator – an ultimate source of life. Every living thing has its life from OUR Lord – from the God to whom we pray. Jehovah has said, “See now that I, even I am he, and there is no god with me; I kill, and I make alive; I wound and I heal; neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.” Paul declared to the Greek philosophers, “in (Jehovah) we live and move and have our being. “All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him (is) life.”
When you go to the Lord in prayer for your sick friend, for comfort, for growth, whatever – remember that you are praying to the one “who quickeneth all things,” and He can quicken once again in this burden of yours.
Paul also calls our God, the one and only true POTENTATE, verse 15.
Here, again, is a word we don’t use very often in our day-to-day English; if we ever use it. (What an education there is in studying and reading our King James Bibles.) No one who desires to know the truth can miss the meaning of this word. It refers to power and might. Our God is the ONLY true Potentate; He is the “King of kings and Lord of lords.” Again I quote Deuteronomy 32:39 where Jehovah says, “See now that I, even I am he, and there is no god with me…”
But are the words, “King of kings and Lord of lords” one of God’s glorious titles? Or is it a statement of fact? It is both, but it begins as a reality before becoming an title. Judy, proof reads all of my books before they go to press. On one occasion, she questioned why I didn’t capitalize both “kings” and both “lords.” My answer was that both here and in Revelation 17, the second “king” and the second “lord” are lower case. In other words, our God is the divine and absolute King over all earthly kings, and He is the sovereign Lord over any petty earthly lords. However, having said that, in Revelation 19:16, we see our glorified Saviour, “And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a NAME written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” If you turn to that chapter, you’ll find that the entire title is capitalized. It is highlighted in Biblical brilliance.
And by way, it is the Son of God who is called “King of kings and Lord of lords” in both verses in Revelation. But notice verse 13 of Timothy – “I give thee charge in the sight of God… and before Christ Jesus…” Then Paul goes back to talking about God generally or God the Father. Remember, we must not separate the Father from the Son, very far. What is true of one is true of the other
So again, when you go to prayer, or when you hear the Lord’s command, you are in the presence of the only true Potentate. And in my Bible “Potentate” is capitalized. It refers to deity.
“Who only hath immortality” – Verse 16.
Earlier in this epistle, Paul extols the Lord saying, “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and aver. Amen.” Only OUR God is eternal and immortal. Only Jehovah is absolutely deathless. Everything else dies or rots; its life leaves it or it is somehow corrupted. The only exceptions to that rule are those things which the eternal God declares to be eternal. Notably – angels and human souls. But again, the eternality of the soul is something derived from the Lord, who only hath immortality. And this means that what the only Potentate determines – is determined eternally, unless the Lord limits it. We don’t have to worry about the will of God eventually failing, or the immortal Potentate changing His mind. The promises of God are eternal, because the God of those promises is eternal.
How important are each of Paul’s points about the nature of God? Perhaps we can see that importance as the Lord Jesus defended Himself before the angry Jews. Please turn to John 5, and let’s read the first part of that paragraph and notice that several of Paul’s points are brought up by the Lord. “Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”
In addition to these things our God is TRANSCENDENT.
“Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, or can see…” I wish I had a better word than “transcendent” to describe what my mind is picturing. The Lord is “unapproachable,” but that word makes me picture a fence or armed guards – an angel with a flaming sword. The Lord is unapproachable only because His very essence is so different from us and our natures that approach is more difficult than two magnets with the same poles. The Lord is so far above His creation that it is ONLY by grace that we can come into His presence, and even then we will never see the Father nor the Spirit.
So how can we come boldly unto the throne of grace of this transcendent God? We come in the name, in the authority and in righteousness of the Son of God, who gave His life that we could become a part of this royal family. When you pray, you are addressing the one who dwells in the light which no man can approach unto. How can we dare to bring our petty requests into such a holy setting? We dare to be bold by Christ’s invitation; by His own command. But while we approach, we must never forget who we are and where we are. We are praying to the God who is “dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, or can see…”
Our God is the BLESSED and only Potentate; He is the BLESSED one.
To the best of my knowledge, God is called “blessed” only here and earlier in I Timothy 1:11. Neither Peter, nor John, call God “blessed.” Neither David, nor Asaph, nor Moses ever use that term. But it is a common word in other contexts – when not talking about the Lord. For example Christ’s Sermon on the Mount begins with it: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” Paul uses that word, when he says to Titus that he was “looking for the BLESSED hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”
I hope you are familiar with what the Greek word “makarios” (mak-ar’-ee-os) means. It is most often translated “blessed” – but once in a while it is explained by way of another translation. For example, it is found in First Peter where we read, “If ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, HAPPY are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled…” “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, HAPPY are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.” We could understand those statements in the Sermon on the Mount to say, “HAPPY are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. HAPPY are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”
That is that same word which Paul applies to our God twice here in his epistle to Timothy. My mind is not sufficient to understand it all, and my tongue cannot describe it to you, but I do know that my Bible tells me that God is “happy.” Why might it be said that God is “happy?” I can only guess. But I surmise that He is happy because, as I heard somewhere, “It is good to be King.” He is “blessed and (the) only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords.” Even for wretched sinners, to have our way, would makes us happy. Jehovah, always has His way. He should be very happy. Why shouldn’t Lord be happy, knowing that every one whom the Son shall save, will be with Him in glory for eternity? Why shouldn’t He be happy in the expectation that those saved souls will some day all be made as righteous and glorious as the Saviour Himself? Why shouldn’t He be happy knowing that some day the glory and the beauty of the original creation will be surpassed in the new creation? I think that the Lord is happy to hear us bring our requests to Him, when we pray in faith and yearn for His glory in those requests. We could go on, taking things that make us happy, and suggesting that on an infinitely higher level the immortal, transcendent all powerful Potentate is made happy in similar things.
Picture Dagon, the god of Philistines; picture the gods of the Hindus, or the feuding gods of the Greeks, Romans or Scandinavians. Is there even one of them, who comes to your mind as joyful, happy, or even cheerful? Some idols might have smiles carved into their marble faces, but they are evil smiles.
Our God is the one and only “blessed” deity. He is happy when we obey Him and serve Him. He is happy to hear our praise and our worship, not because He has forced it out of us, but because it is freely offered. And He is happy to hear our prayers. Let’s go to this God with our burdens and our requests. Let’s fill His house with our thanksgiving and our praise.
I know that it is a stupid thought… I know that it is an impossibility… But let’s endeavor to make the Lord even more happy than He already is. Let’s honor Him by humbly beseeching Him for miracles of grace. Let’s make Him happy by praising Him for His multiplied blessings?