The 3rd question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks what the Bible is primarily or ultimately all about. It is about “what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.”
The next question is one that everyone should ask, but many people seem to assume that they already know the answer. What is that question?
“Q.4 What is God?”
That is a really good question. (Who is this One whom we are to glorify and enjoy forever?) What is the answer?
“God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.”
That brief definition speaks volumes.
God is not a physical being – He is a Spirit. No wonder we are not to attempt to worship Him through images (Exodus:20:4-6).
God is infinite. He is without limits.
God is eternal. He has always been. He alone is self-existent. Where did God come from? Nowhere – He just is!
God is unchangeable. He is perfect and never needs to change. He is incorruptible and not subject to change in any way.
And He is all of these things in His very being, His wisdom, His power, His holiness, His justice, His goodness, and His truth.
In other words, while God is know-able because He has revealed Himself in Christ Jesus (John 1:1-18; Hebrews 1:1-3), he is incomprehensible to our finite minds. We can never know all that there is to know about or of Him.
J.I. Packer wrote, “No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God . . . ” (Knowing God, p.18). Maybe that is why so many people seem to prefer not to think about God.
Someone recently asked what we are going to do in heaven. The implication of the question was (more or less) to ask, “Are we going to be bored in heaven?”
Could the God described above ever be “boring”? It seems almost unthinkable to even ask such a thing. The one true and living God is the most un-boring subject imaginable.
Look at Isaiah’s vision of the LORD in Isaiah chapter 6. Needless to say, he wasn’t bored. He was in awe. And the mighty seraphim (literally “flaming ones”) in that vision were just as in awe of God as Isaiah was. And keep in mind that Isaiah’s vision was really just a glimpse of what God is really like. That glimpse was so powerful that the prophet Isaiah thought he was undone (v.5). The thresholds of the temple probably were not the only things that were trembling at the voice of the LORD (v.4)!
And what will we be doing forever in heaven? We will be with the Lord Himself forever (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18), getting to know Him more and more in all of His infinite nature and attributes.
And there is quite literally no end to that learning or knowledge.
And that will lead us to praise Him – to glorify & to enjoy Him forever!
Schreiberspace 