GODS DESIGNATION OF HIMSELF
Isaiah 54:5. The Holy One of Israel thy Redeemer (R. V.).
This subject requires to be approached with the utmost reverence, and with a deep consciousness of the imperfection of our powers.
I. THE HOLINESS OF GOD. The Bible is full of declarations of His holiness.
1. The nature of Divine holiness.
(1.) It is underived.
(2.) It is absolutely perfect. He is incapable of impurity (Habakkuk 1:13). If we could conceive of God in any other character than this, we should revolt at the very idea of His existence and character, and our minds would be in perpetual anxiety and apprehension respecting His dealings toward us. But He always does right, and is always opposed to wrong. He is perfectly just and true—these are the two great branches of this attribute (Deuteronomy 32:4).
(3.) It is the glory of His nature (Exodus 15:11; 2 Chronicles 20:21; 2 Kings 19:22; Isaiah 4:4; Ephesians 4:18). He represents Himself more frequently in this character than in any other.
(4.) It is the basis of His blessedness.
2. The demonstration of the Divine holiness. It appears—
(1.) In creating man holy (Ecclesiastes 7:29; Colossians 3:10).
(2.) In the law by which He governs humanity (Romans 7:12).
(3.) In the infliction of punishment upon man when he sinned.
(4.) In the restoration of man (2 Corinthians 3:18; Hebrews 7:26). The economy of grace is devised that polluted man may be restored to holiness. The cross of Christ is the highest possible expression of God’s love of holiness. Our justification is not by the imperfect works of creatures, but by an exact and infinite righteousness (Romans 3:25-26). See p. 295.
What a foundation for the trust and confidence of His people! How great is the sin of unbelief and pride. How earnestly we should long to be ever growing in likeness to Him, for His holiness is the reason and the standard of ours (1 Peter 1:16). How terrible is God’s infinite holiness to the ungodly!” “Who can stand before this Holy Lord God?”
II. THE UNITY OF GOD. Contrary to the many gods of the heathen. Polytheism has been far more common than Atheism. How deplorable is the blindness of the heathen, who, instead of the one true God, worship innumerable deities. Some of the heathens had better notions—Epictetus, Plato, &c.
1. The nature of the Divine unity.
(1.) It is simple or uncompounded. He has no parts—His perfect nature admits of no composition.
(2.) It is singular and unshared unity. He is not one of a genus or kind. He admits of no rival—no partner of His peculiar nature: it is an absolutely exclusive unity.
2. The scriptural proof of the Divine unity.
3. The corroborative evidence of the Divine unity.
(1.) The self-existence of God. Two prime and original causes of all things are unimaginable. “If there is not one only God, there is no God.”
(2.) The infinite perfections of God. An absolutely perfect being must be one, &c.
(3.) The supreme dominion of God: there can only be one supreme governor of the world.
(4.) The analogy of nature. Everywhere signs of a monarchy. The unity of design observable in all the works of God.
The practical application of this subject is found in Deuteronomy 6:5, compared with Mark 12:29-30.
III. THE GRACIOUS RELATION WHICH THIS GLORIOUS BEING SUSTAINS TOWARD HIS PEOPLE. “Thy redeemer”—vindicator or deliverer.
1. The need of redemption. The Babylonians had taken Israel into captivity, and oppressed them, &c. Man is enslaved by sin, led captive by the devil; his spiritual enemies are numerous, and subtle, and powerful; and he is unable to overcome them, &c. He needs an emancipator—a redeemer.
2. The nature of redemption. May be considered both negatively and positively—what we are redeemed from, and what we are redeemed to. The spiritual Israel are redeemed, from the love and practice of sin, to the love and practice of holiness; from death to life; from the service of Satan to the service of God; from misery to bliss; from hell to heaven, &c.
3. The author of redemption. The doctrine of redemption is often underestimated and undervalued, from an inadequate conception of the majesty of its author. In the heart of God our redemption took its rise. Effected by the sacrifice of THE SON OF GOD (see p. 438). Redemption was made possible for all Israel, but it was open to any to reject the privileges it involved. So Christ has died for all, yet the benefits of His death will be secured only to those who believe.
No other way of deliverance from the deadly evils in which sin has involved you (H. E. I. 443).—A. Tucker.