Verily, thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.” (Isaiah 45:15).
The ancient Turks built their temples open at the top as a testimony to their belief that God could not be confined in them. Those structures were just too small. When King Solomon considered the glorious temple that he would build for God, he asked, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded.” (1 Kings 8:27). Then we hear God’s own sizing up of Himself in Isaiah’s prophecy: “Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? And where is the place of my rest?” (Isaiah 66:1). Standing before this truth of the bigness of God, with eyes bulging like a kid in a candy shop, Thomas Watson rejoiced, saying, “If God be infinite, filling heaven and earth, see what a full portion the saints have!” Jacob saw that he had the infinite God for his portion, and in Genesis 33:11 declared, “I have enough!” The saint’s cups runneth over with God!
The astronomer’s professional view and best calculation of space is that it is immeasurably endless. Many refer to the outer spaces as “the final frontier.” The Christian believes there is something beyond the stars-- their eternal home, and Someone bigger than all the stars, the One who created them. To them, God is their Final Frontier, and the Christian is a happy explorer on an eternal quest to chart the regions of Divinity. The ultimate adventure is to be a spiritual Galileo, peeking through the lens of God’s inspired written biography, the eyes bulging from their sockets as the Holy Spirit at the control of the focus, bit-by-bit, brings small pieces of truth, (tiny morsels that such an one as we struggling creatures can digest at a time), truths of an infinite God before their excited eyes. O how this explodes the adrenalin and demands a closer look with more careful consideration!
The recent death of the Crocodile Hunter comes to mind. The outstanding quality of his character that seemed to stand out most in the minds of them who observed him was his passionate enthusiasm as he encountered, and interacted with animals and nature. It has been said that he died doing the thing that he loved the most. Should not this be the description of every true believer as they experience their close encounters and examinations of the great God of the universe? Should it not be said of each one who explores Divinity, “His quest for God was so passionately displayed in his life until the day he died doing the thing that he loved the most!”
There are two extremes that many professing believers have fallen captive to: emotionalism that entertains rather than worships, and motionless-ism that lullabies rather than stirs. Genuine and honest God-quests that result in revelations of God in His Word by the Holy Spirit, moves the seeker to worship and not to slumber.
How Big Is God?
He is too big to be contained between the covers of the Bible. The Bible tells us some things but not everything about God. As we behold God, in the general sense, through His amazing creation which He wrought by His powerful spoken word, it is like watching those aforementioned stars without telescopic aid. We then turn to His written Word and behold Him by special revelation sufficient to save. Watching stars without a telescope answers a few questions we may have. Watching the stars with a telescope answers many more questions, but also brings a multitude of other stars into the picture generating even more questions. After the explorer has reached his journey’s end upon planet earth, his effort of exploration will continue in heaven throughout eternity, never reaching an end as the study of God goes on (Ephesians 2:7). The Christian is a perpetual student, the Holy Spirit is the expert Teacher, the Bible is the only reliable textbook, and God is the endless subject.
How Big Is God?
He is too big to be explained. In Romans 11:33, the Apostle Paul was examining and declaring God. Suddenly, this, the mightiest man of revelations who has ever lived, cried out, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out.” Paul here realizes that he is in over his head, his feet are not touching bottom, he is treading water! This prince of all preachers understood that his task to proclaim God was above and beyond his ability. God has actually called men to do the impossible; but do it they must! How can men explain the unexplainable, tell the untellable, describe the indescribable? The wonder of it all is that though God cannot be sufficiently explained, yet He can be gloriously experienced and thoroughly enjoyed. Vance Havner used to say, “I can’t explain electricity, but I’m not going to sit around in the dark till I can.”
How Big Is God?
He is too big that one could find a place to hide from Him. “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.” (Psalms 119:7-11). God inhabits all places at all times, thus every soul walks corum deo- in the presence of God, before the face of God, under the eye of God.
These former observations having been considered, yet we must understand that, while no man can hide from the omnipresent One, God can yet hide from men. As a matter of fact, He remains invisible, inaudible, and undetectable until He chooses to make Himself known to any soul. “Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.” (Isaiah 45:15). God is hidden to the fallen sinner until He is pleased to reveal Himself to the saving of his soul. That revelation will never come apart from Jesus Christ, “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.” (Colossians 1:15). “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” (John.1:18). The big, one and only, true and living God, can and will go unobserved and concealed from sight until the day of the sinner’s salvation, or his damnation, which ever comes first! Thereby will God be seen in the face of Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, who is both Savior and Judge (Acts 4:12; 17:31).
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