Psalm 89 theme verse Psalm 89:26
The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.
In this second Sunday of 2025, I pray that His grace of the application of all the benefits which Jesus earned for our salvation and also the glorious ministry of the proclamation of His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit may be full in our life. Last week, opening new year of 2025, through Deuteronomy 10, we decided to live to fear God the LORD, walk in His ways, love Him and serve Him, and keep His commandment this year. From this week we would like to look at the Belgic confession, which is one of our basic confessions of our Christian Reformed Church so this week we would like to know who God whom we confess our faith is together.
1) When we confess that “we believe in God”, to believe, i.e., true faith, according to Q&A 21 of Heidelberg Catechism, is not only a sure knowledge by which I hold as true all that God has revealed to us in Scripture; it is also a wholehearted trust, which the Holy Spirit creates in me by the gospel, that God has freely granted,” and also in the Q&A 22 & 23, what we believe is all that is promised us in the gospel, a summary of which is taught us in the articles of our universal and undisputed Christian faith, which is the Apostles’ creed.
2) And through this Apostles’ creed, we confess that
“I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth
I believe in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell. Th third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended
to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church, the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.”
In other words, we confess true knowledge of Triune God, I mean, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. By the way, today especially we would like to know the confession of God the Father, among Trinity of God. The Apostles’ creed confesses three knowledges of God, I mean, God is Almighty God, Creator of the heaven and earth, and our Father, in other words, who God is, what God did, and How God is related to us, the human beings.
3) As such, regarding the essential Being of God which does not admit of any scientific definition, God revealed His self-existence or absolute independence, by saying “I AM WHO I AM” in Ex 3:14 and Jesus our Lord said the Spirituality of God, saying “God is Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship in the Spirit and truth” in John 4:24. In addition, Thomas Aquinas spoke of His aseity or self-existence, and Duns Scotus, of His infinity, and the Reformers spoke of the unity, simplicity, and spirituality of God as the point which expresses the Nature of God. Yet the Apostles’ creed spoke of the omnipotence of God as His Nature.
4) In today’s text, psalm 89, Ethan, the Ezrahite, the Psalmist, confessed also that “God is my Father, my God, and the Rock of my Salvation.” Here, after he confesses that God is almighty and the Creator and Providential Carer who is righteous, just, and also steadfast in love and faithful. he continues to confess that that God is the Savior from their enemy and the evil, and then finally confesses that He is his Father, who protects him.
5) And regarding the Being and the Attributes of God, article 1 of the Belgic confession confesses that “We all believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that there is a single and simple spiritual being whom we call God – eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, unchangeable, Infinite, almighty; completely wise, just, and good and the overflowing source of all good.” Here the first paragraph confess the Nature of God and the second paragraph confess the Attributes of God, I mean, the incommunicable attributes and communicable attributes.
6) To look at more details on the the Belgic confession that “God is a single and simple spiritual being” regarding the Being of God, here, the fact that God is single means that since “the LORD is our God, the LORD alone” as the Shema of Duet 6:4 confesses, the gods of the world are silver and gold, the work of the human hands, they have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but o not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk.; they make no sound in their throats as Ps 115:4-7. as the Shema of Duet 6:4 says. This oneness of God is also confessed in various Bible verses such as Is 4:9-17; 44:6, Deut 4:39; 32:39; John 17:3, etc. and also being confessed in the Nicean Creed and Athanasian Creed, in contrast to dualism in which there are competing principles of good and evil, yin and yang; in contrast to polytheism, in which there are many gods; in contrast to pantheism, in which everything is divine. And secondly, we confess also God is a simple spiritual Being. Here the fact that God is simple does not mean that we can fully understand Him or that God is a simpleton, rather the simplicity of God means that “God is not composed of various parts, such as the body and soul of man, and for that very reason is not subject to division.” Thus God cannot be divided up like one part being the Father, one part being the Son, and another part being the Holy Spirit; or one part being love, one part being just, and another part being holy. As Herman Hoeksema said, in Him all His attributes are one which means that 100% of love of God is going with 100% of His justice, while God is One in Nature, while He has three Persons. And then the fact that God is a spiritual Being means that God is a spiritual being without a body so that God is different from us.
7) And then in the second paragraph, it confesses about the incommunicable attributes and communicable attributes of God, this knowledge of the attributes of God makes us grow in godliness, as Charles Spurgeon says “Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued, investigation of the great subject of the Deity.” Firstly, to say that God is eternal means that God is not limited by temporal restraints so that God is wholly transcendent above time, as Rev 1:8 and 22:13 says ”God is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the last, who is and who was and who is to come.” And God’s eternity is His infinity in relation to time. And to say that God is incomprehensible means that God cannot be known fully and perfectly as Job 11:7-9 and Rom 11:33 said, even though He can be known, but only insofar as He reveals Himself to us. And to say He is invisible means that He cannot be seen, since He is a Spirit and has a simple Nature and full of holy glory, as Ex 33:20-23 said. To say He is unchangeable means that God is immutable in His essence, in His attributes, and in His Counsel. And to say God is infinite means that God is not subject to limitations, with reference to space we speak of His infinity as His immensity, that is, His omnipresence, and with reference to time, we speak of God’s infinity as His eternity, in order word, God is wholly transcendent above time, and with reference to His attributes, we speak our God is unlimited in knowledge, wisdom, goodness, love, righteousness, and holiness. And as the last incommunicable attributes of God, to say that God is almighty speaks about His omni-potence so that He is sovereign, and in complete control of all things, as the LORD of hosts, the commander of heaven’s power, and the holder of all power so that His promises are secure, because He can achieve anything with His almighty power.
8) And then as His communicable attributes, He is completely wise, just and good, which means that all He knows, which is everything, is used to bring about the greatest glory for Himself since we speak of God’s wisdom as an eternal wisdom, and incomprehensible wisdom, an infinite wisdom, and an almighty wisdom. And also to say God is just means that God judges justly between good and evil, without discrimination and to say God is good means that God is in every way all that He as God should be so that He deals bountifully and kindly with all His creations, loves His rational creatures since He sees His images in them, shows grace to the sinners, and has mercy on those who are in misery or distress. Therefore, God is the exhaustible fountain of goodness as James 1:17 says.
9) By the way, to begin our Belgic confession with God has a very important meaning. I mean, firstly to begin our Belgic confession is a confession of how we view the Christian faith, ourselves, and the world around us. God has eternally existed before all things, He is the beginning of all things, and He is the end of all things, as Rom 11:36 says “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.” And secondly, the fact that the Belgic confession begin with God and then proceed to Scripture, while the seventeenth-century confessions such as Westminster Confession, begin with Scripture and then proceed to God, is is very important theologically since the existence of the scriptural revelation presupposes the existence of God.
10) And then this great God created the world, and cares it with His Providence, saves His elects and finally will judge in the end. We confess this great and amazing God as our Father. So that through this confession, since God, the Creator, Providential Carer, Savor and Judge, is our Father who provides our needs and protects us and reigns as the King, we may feel His paternal warmness and also comfort and security even in all situations, since all things happen in God’s control, not in chance.
11) As such, this firm and sound knowledge of God makes us grow in Him, enjoy intimate fellowship with Him and worship Him. That’s why medieval saying says ”Theology is taught by God, teaches of God and leads to God.” And also the sound knowledge of God makes us know ourselves and place us where we have to be, I mean, to worship, kneeling before the LORD as Psalm 95:6 says. That’s why Calvin said in his “Institute of Christian Faith” that "Man is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God's majesty.” Therefore I pray that we may grow into the true knowledge of God so that we may love God our Father more and walk with Him humbly so that we may enjoy Him.
Key Questions as Small Group Activity
Q1 Today we learned about the Being and Attributes of God through the article 1 of Belgic Confession. Among these, if any one moves your mind, after thinking why, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.
Q2 And this true knowledge of God makes us grow in godliness. So after thinking why the knowledge of God broadens your horizon of thoughts and cultivates your faith, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.
Love you. Thank you. God bless you.
Prayer Note
Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!
Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or even during the week )
Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!
Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),
please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized ).
I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon )
Please help me to live in that ( learned way of life )
I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.
Comments