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SUBJECT: Closeness to God
QUESTION: How close is God to man? In what ways does
God involve Himself with man?
ANSWER:
We know that God can do everything...
Job 42:2
I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought
can be withholden from thee.
We know that God is everywhere present...
Jeremiah 23:23-24
23 Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar
off?
24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not
see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth?
saith the LORD.
We know that God has great knowledge...
Deuteronomy 31:20-21
20 For when I shall have brought them into the land which I
sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey;
and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen
fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them,
and provoke me, and break my covenant.
21 And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles
are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them
as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the
mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which
they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the
land which I sware.
Note: God knew
that the children of Israel would turn to other gods even
before they went into the Promised Land.
1 Chronicles 28:9
And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father,
and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind:
for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the
imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be
found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee
off for ever.
Note: If He can
search a heart and understand our imaginations, then He can
easily fortell what decisions we will make. He gives us
free moral agency but that does not mean that He has no idea
what we will do. Take for example when God told Abraham to
sacrifice his son, Issac. Clearly, as Abraham journeyed
toward the place of sacrifice, he thought about what he
would do and if he would kill his son. The reason God
waited until the last minute was to let Abraham know that he
would be faithful and do what God said.
Isaiah 42:9
Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things
do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.
Note: God can see
into the future.
Matthew 6:8
Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth
what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
Isaiah 48:5
I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before
it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say,
Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten
image, hath commanded them.
Note: Clearly,
God can see into the future. He allows us to make
decisions; it just means that whatever we choose, He will
know about it before we do. However, He will not allow you
to do something against His will and/or would destroy His
plan. (example: kill someone
He is using).
I, too, believe that God places angels over us but that does
not take from His power over everything. He is in perfect
contact with all those angels.
With the death of Jesus Christ, the veil of the temple was
rent (ripped) in two from the top to the bottom which
symbolized the access of every man and woman to the throne
of God. No man, no woman, no government agent and no
minister can limit that access. Before His death, Jesus
promised that we would be given the Holy Spirit of God and
it is by this Spirit that we have direct access to Him, God
the Father in heaven.
Romans 5:2
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Ephesians 2:13, 18
13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are
made nigh by the blood of Christ.
18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto
the Father.
James 4:8
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your
hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
1 Peter 1:17
And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons
judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your
sojourning here in fear:
Note: These
verses make it clear that we have direct access to God the
Father by Jesus Christ. God does not respect one person (man
or woman) more than another. As we draw closer
to God, He will draw closer to us. He does not set a limit
to this closeness. We continue this process until that
wonderful day when we become spirit beings in His family.
1 Peter 3:18
18 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:
Romans 8:14-17
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the
sons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to
fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby
we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that
we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and
joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him,
that we may be also glorified together.
1 John 3:2
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet
appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall
appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
See letter, "Getting
Closer to God"
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