THE
LIVING GOD AND HIS PEOPLE |
| KNOWING THE
LIVING GOD |
| People who believe
in God do not need to prove that he lives. They believe because
God has been God to them-much as children believe in parents
because their parents bear them and care for them. |
| Acts 17:23-31 |
| In saying that God
is the living God, we mean that he does things. He is the Creator
of the whole earth and the Creator of his people. He also speaks
so as to reveal himself and he imparts his life to his creatures.
On the other hand, he lets it be seen that nothing else is God. |
| Deuteronomy 5:24-27;
Jeremiah 10:1-16; 17:5-13. |
| To say that God
lives is to say that he loves. There is no living of God which
is not love. Song writers expressed Israel's longing for fellowship
with the living God. |
| Psalms 42:2; 84:2. |
| KNOWING GOD
THROUGH HIS SAVING ACTS |
| God has created
humanity in his image to be like him and to be with him in
bringing about his purpose for the whole creation. The rebellion
of the race has not changed his purpose. Rather, it is through
his suffering over us and saving of us that he brings everything
to its goal. |
| Genesis 1:26-28;
Ephesians 1:5-10. |
| God shows that he
is the living God, not so much by condemning what is wrong as
in reconciling the world to himself. He has done this in sending
his Son-Jesus Christ. He is the Son and revealer of the Living
God. It is through the discovery of God's mercy to us that we
discover God. |
| Matthew 16:15-16;
II Corinthians 5:17-21. |
| Because God is living,
every one must ultimately acknowledge him. He is the Judge and
has wrath towards those who do not reverence him. |
| Romans 14:11-12;
Hebrews 3:12; Revelation 15:6-8. |
| THE LIVING
PEOPLE OF GOD |
| What God is
he is to the whole creation. He lives and acts for all, but
he reveals himself to some for the benefit of all. Therefore,
the people of God are called to do the works of God in the
creation. They live, not in this world's story, but in God's
which is for the world. |
| II Corinthians 5:17-21. |
| In fact, as God's
chosen Leader, Jesus Christ takes the place of God's people.
He suffers and dies the death they deserve-and God raises him
up to live forever. Through Christ,
God's people not only know that God is alive but they are alive
to God and they live for him. |
| Romans 6:10-13;
I Thessalonians 1:8-10. |
| Believers have their
hope in the living God. Because they know he is living, they
rely on him to do something about everything. He has promised
to do this; he has sent us his Son and raised him from death;
he has given us his Spirit as a foretaste of what is to come. |
| I Timothy 4:10;
6:17. |
| GOD AND HIS
PEOPLE IN THE END |
| In the end,
Jesus Christ will have conquered every enemy of God and humanity.
When he has done this, he will give everything over to the
Father so that the Father can be everything to everyone. This
is the goal of creation-God being everything to his people.
God has always given himself to his people, but in the end,
every obstacle to this will have been overcome-there will
be no false fountains-and we will worship him as those who
know that we have, and will, receive everything from him. |
I Corinthians 15:24-28.
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