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Tuesday, August 6, 2013

P2 More reasons to celebrate God's Aseity



Isaiah 45:5-6 “I am the Lord, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; 
That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun That there is no one besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other."

Review from yesterday
In yesterday's post we began focusing upon the quality of God's Aseity (a-say-i-tee).  Aseity (from the Latin term ase meaning "from oneself") refers to God being the source of His own life and existence and being non-dependent on His creation.  We noted four reasons as to why God's Aseity is to be celebrated:
1. Worship
2. His Self-revelation in the Word of God
3. War against worldliness
4. Work of salvation

This trait is crucial, since God alone is the source of salvation as Savior, authority as King and life as Creator.  Today we look again at this core feature of Divine Aseity to note how God alone knows the future.

God's Aseity is to be celebrate because He alone knows what tomorrow holds 
In considering the songs we sing, we could regard the application of God's Aseity to the Christian life by the following hymn: "many things about tomorrow, I don't need to understand, but I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand."   The phrase: "I the Lord am God alone, there is no other" refers to God's Aseity.  We know that this trait of God is the main theme throughout Isaiah 45-46 in how it is repeated several times throughout those chapters (45:5-7; 45:12; 45:15-17; 45:19; 45:21; 46:8-11.  

So why is God's core quality of Aseity important to you and me as Christians? In these chapters we see God as having Sovereign control over times and seasons. God had not only predicted the future coming of the Persian empire  that was not even a kingdom in Isaiah's day, but even the king by name (Cyrus) who would not be born for another 200 or so years after Isaiah's day!   God alone could make such accurate predictions because He is the source of all history and is Sovereign over all things.  Now we must hasten to add that God's Aseity as sole and ultimate authority over time does not exclude the freedom man has to act and choose certain courses of action.  However man's freedom is dependent on circumstances and acts within the boundaries of God's unlimited freedom. (Acts 17:25-27)  

Isaiah's point in all of this is to contrast God with the idols and false deities that Israel had grown to depend upon over time.  These idols that were unable to save, create or reign because of the fact they neither exist nor do they have aseity.  On an even more practical level, God's Aseity in relationship to the future means He holds the future of your salvation in His hands.  

Aseity is to be celebrated because the Christian life depends upon Jesus Christ
Whenever you turn to Colossians 3, you find the command to seek not the things here below, but the things which are above, where Christ is situated.  Jesus Christ shares this quality of Aseity with the Father and the Spirit, meaning He is the source of your salvation from beginning to end.  You and I are not independent, but always dependent on Jesus Christ for our every need.  Sin and this world cannot deliver on their claims of happiness and peace, however Christ can.  He is the source of true happiness and true peace.  Only the One who has this quality of Aseity can deliver good on what He says.