THE LIVING CHURCH
Meditations in the Acts of the Apostles
Acts 17:24-28

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WHAT IS our view of God? How do we think of Him? How do we worship Him? What is he in our estimation? The knowledge and doctrine of God is an area that is neglected today. Our society does not like supreme rulers. We want to be our own masters and almost worship the idea of democracy, and because of this the doctrine in the Bible of God as sovereign, and in total authority over us, tends to be repugnant to our thinking. Yet we need to get back to a true Biblical view of God and worship God as he truly is. Paul gives us such a true view of God in these five verses. Let us refresh our minds and hearts with his teaching.

Firstly, God made us. He is the creator. Everything on earth and in the heavens was made by him. The universe we see and know, our planet and the infinity of space, did not exist until God brought it all into being. The idea of creation in the Bible is that of creating something out of nothing. God brings matter in being. Nor have we a true view of God as Creator unless we see in this creation that he not only brought things into being, but also that he designed how they should be. Without arguing over how long creation took, the narrative of Genesis 1 and 2 plainly indicates that God designed how the world should be. He designed the nature of the environment, and the life in this environment, both plant and animal, and gave them their proper spheres of life and operation, and although we human beings are made of the same stuff as the plants and animals, we have been created by God unique in that we were created in the image of God. Paul speaks here in verse 28 of our being entirely dependent upon God. He says 'For in him we live and move have and have our being'. We receive life from God, and our lives are sustained by God, and our lives end when God says so. In life we are dependent on God's continued sustaining of our world that we may have the wherewithal to live and enjoy life.

Secondly, God is Lord of heaven and earth. He is the supreme ruler and has complete ownership and authority over all his creation. We belong to God and are under the authority of God. It is the folly and evil of fallen humanity that we believe ourselves to be free and under no external authority other than ourselves. However, as we shall see in Paul's teaching, the fact that we renounce God's Lordship does not mean we are free from it. God is our sovereign and we can't escape his authority and we have no power in the end to resist his will. If we do not seek after him and find him, we shall in the end be judged by him. Paul speaks of this sovereignty over us in verse 26. Things do not happen by chance as many scientists postulate today. Nations and history are under the ultimate control of God.

God is independent of us. God does not need us or the world. God created us for his good pleasure. He existed in splendour and sufficiency before he created. However we need God, and can't do without him. We are told in the Bible that Christ upholds all things by the word of his power. The world continues, and us in it, because God sustains the world and holds all things together. God could at a moment end the world and all we know would disappear and be no more. We are seeing today something of the judgement of God in the fact that he is withdrawing some of his sustaining power and allowing us in our arrogance and greed to upset and destroy the equilibrium of the world.

Thirdly, God does not live in temples made with hands. This is another way of saying that God is not controlled by us, and we are unable to contain him. On a deeper level it teaches that God is eternal, spiritual and the essence of life. He is not temporal and physical like we have been created to be. Although we are created in the image of God, God is still totally other than us and above and beyond us.

Fourthly, the purpose of God's continual providence towards us, and that he bears with out rebellion and waywardness, is that we may seek him, and perhaps reach out and find him. This is the amazing thing about God. In spite of the terrible record of humanity, and the dreadful way we have spoilt God's creation and torn ourselves apart, yet God wants us to find him and give ourselves to him. The world is not judged as it should be, instead God gives us this open invitation to come to him and find him. Indeed God has provided the way we may come back to him safely by visiting the judgement we deserve on himself in the person of his only begotten Son.

Thus Paul opens to us briefly the true and only God. He is omnipotent and self-sufficient. He is holy and good. He can't allow sin to go unpunished without violating his holiness, yet his mercy and love pours out infinite grace by providing a way that he can be both faithful to his holiness and be just, and yet still forgive and justify us sinners. He does this that we may perhaps feel after him and find him and so enter eternal blessing. How great and wonderful is Jehovah, almighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of peace.