John Owen exposits John 3:16

“For “God,” the glorious, all-sufficient God, that could have manifested His justice to eternity in the condemnation of all sinners, and no way wanted them to be partakers of His blessedness:

“so,” that is, in such a degree, to such a remarkable, astonishable height:

"loved,” with such an earnest, intense affection, consisting in an eternal, unchangeable act and purpose of His will, for the bestowing of the chiefest good (the choicest effectual love):

“the world,” men in the world, of the world, subject to the iniquities and miseries of the world, lying in their blood, having nothing to render them commendable in His eyes, or before Him:

“that He gave,” did not, as He made all the world at first, speak the word and it was done, but proceeded higher, to the performance of a great deal more and longer work, wherein He was to do more than exercise an act of His almighty power, as before; and therefore gave

“His Son,” not any favourite or other well-pleasing creature; not sun, moon, or stars; not the rich treasure of His creation (all too mean, and coming short of expressing this love); but His Son:

“begotten Son,” and that not so called by reason of some near approaches to Him, and filial, obediential reverence of him, as the angels are called the sons of God; for it was not an angel that He gave, which had yet been an expression of most intense love; not yet a son by adoption, as believers are the sons of God; but His begotten Son, begotten of His own person from eternity; and that His

"only-begotten Son,” not any one of His sons, but whereas He had or hath but one only-begotten Son, always in His bosom, His Isaac, He gave him: - than which how could the infinite wisdom of God make or give any higher testimony of His love? especially if ye will add what is here evidently included, though the time was not as yet come that it should be openly expressed, namely whereunto He gave His Son, His only one; not to be a king, worshipped in the first place, -but He “spared Him not, but delivered Him up” to death “for us all,” Rom. 8:32. Whereunto, for a close of all, cast your eyes upon His design and purpose in this whole business, and ye shall find that it was

"that believers", those whom He thus loved,

"might not perish,” –that is, undergo the utmost misery and wrath to eternity, which they had deserved, -

"but have everlasting life,” eternal glory with Himself, which of themselves they could no way attain; and ye will easily grant that “greater love hath no man than this.””

-from the Death of Death in the Death of Christ

"God has no origin," said Novatian, and it is precisely this concept of no-origin which distinguishes That-which-is-God from whatever is not God. __A.W. Tozer

HAS GOD BEEN OUTDONE BY HIS OWN CREATION?

"He's looking like a weak God right about now! Outdone by his own creation!"

This was said by an atheist commenting on Ray Comfort's blog, "Atheist Central." He was referring to scientists' synthesizing DNA and implanting it into a cell which had it's own DNA removed. Some say that in accomplishing this man has now "created life".

Another atheist who goes by the name, "Garbonzo Beans!!!" is very bold. He says: "This is the dawning of Homo evolutis. We will control our own genetic future, as well as the genetic future of other species. We can now create new species, that did not exist up until they were "intelligently designed"."

Others who commented on the blog post focused on the question of whether this really qualifies as "man creating life." I however was inspired to say something about the statement that God is weak, and has been outdone by his own creation.

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Here is the initial quote from "Blu," followed by my comment. The entire post and all comments can be seen by clicking here.

"Hey Ray, seen the news lately? We've been able to 'create' synthetic life. Seems we're almost as powerful as God ;) give it a few years, Ray, and we'll be creating our own life. God won't be so important then, will he. He's looking like a weak God right about now! Outdone by his own creation!" Blu

"He's looking like a weak God right about now! Outdone by his own creation!" Blu

Those words might well have been said 2,000 years ago when the long awaited "seed of the woman" (Gen.3:15) was killed and buried.

Satan must have been beyond euphoric when, after centuries of attempts to undermine the fulfillment of the Genesis 3 prophecy, God was defeated by His own creatures, the very human race He had planned to redeem from the devil's dominion. "Outdone by His own creation." Or, so it must have appeared.

I wonder though, if the "old serpent" may have been haunted the next couple of days by the thought, "That was easy - maybe too easy." His "victory" over God seemed to have been just handed to him on a silver platter.

The "deceiver" didn't have long to wait. John, in a very brief summary statement, says, "...and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne." (Rev.12:4,5)

Look at the colon in that last sentence. It stands in the place representing the period of time when Jesus, the Son of God, as a man, lived a life of perfect obedience to his Father, and on the cross of shame achieved the ultimate victory over sin and death, and yes, over the devil.

Satan, not God, had been undone by his own scheme. What he didn't know was that God's "...Love is as strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. It's flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD." (Song of Songs 8:6) Never did he anticipate that God's love for his people was so strong that he would pay the ultimate price for their redemption. (John 3:16)

And as for Jesus, the Son of God, never has anyone paid such a great price to redeem and obtain a bride. Redeemed humanity will corporately be the eternal companion of Christ, in union with him for ever.

And they overcame [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. (Rev. 12:11)

Craig B.

THERE ARE ONLY TWO THINGS: GOD and CREATION

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. __Genesis 1:1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.__John 1:1-3

Creating a "god" who is like us?

The topic on Ray Comfort's blog, Atheist Central, today was about man's creating a god out of his own imagination. The following is taken from the comment page. It has been edited for this post.

Ray Comfort:
"...Man has always gravitated towards making a god in his own image. He does this because he doesn’t want moral accountability..."

Lurker:
“Or, because the concept of ‘God’ is one of projected personification onto the Universe. That would explain why bigots believe in bigoted Gods, why feminists believe in feminist Gods, and why X's believe in X Gods. Fill in the blank.”

Stranger:
But Lurker, what amazes me is how God, the One whose very essence is the sum of moral perfection, whose chief attribute is holiness, indicating that He is completely separate from all that is sinful, impure, or morally imperfect, draws men and women to Himself whose characteristics are so unlike His own, and they know it.

The most perfect representation of God is in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Do you want to know what God is like? Look at Jesus Christ. See what he does and hear what he says.

Look at how the "sinners and publicans" flocked to him (Luke 15:1-2), someone who was totally unlike themselves. And the woman who was a notorious sinner who was drawn to the holy Jesus, and washed his feet with her tears, and dried them with her hair. (Luke 7:37-50 Read the entire passage. It is fantastic.)

Nowadays folks are being drawn to God and worshipping Him because He saved them from their sins, people whose qualities and attributes are anything but God-like. These Christians are certainly not imaging a "god" after their own likes, bigotry or prejudices. In fact, the whole of salvation is God's forming us into His likeness and image.

_________Craig Boyd

The Overarching Theme of the Bible

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. _Isaiah 53:6

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

(1 John 3:1-2)