Reasons to Study the Attributes of God, Part 2
Originally posted on 1/7/2020
I am convinced that God is not so interested in what we know as in how we act. That being said, if we believe incorrectly we will behave incorrectly. The Bible is filled with examples of this principle. In fact, it may be shown that people actually change their behavior in accordance with what they worship. This is yet another reason why a study of the attributes of God is vital for our lives. If we want to live correctly, we must understand who God is and what he is like.
We become like what we worship
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do 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; and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them. Psa 115:4-8
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Rom 1:21-23
They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them. 2 Kgs 17:15
Thus says the LORD: “What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless? Jer 2:5
In Psalm 115, the psalmist declares that those who worship impotent idols become powerless themselves. These idolaters become vulnerable to the world around them because they cannot interact with the world correctly. They have ears that do not understand, eyes that do not comprehend, mouths that make no sense, and so forth. What idolaters worship as gods are not at all like the one true God, so they become as helpless as the created things to which they bow down.
The parallel passages 2 Kgs 17:15 and Jer 2:5 teach the same thing. In the original language, the words translated “false” in 2nd Kgs 17:15 and “worthless” in Jer 2:5 are the same word. Strictly speaking this Hebrew word means “vapor” or “breath.” It's used to describe something that is fleeting or empty or worthless. Like a soap bubble, idols exist only for a moment and are fragile and empty. They may be pretty to look at but they are really good for nothing. According to these two passages, this is what false gods are like. More importantly, according to these two texts, every person takes on the character and nature of the god they worship. The characteristic of all false gods is that they destroy those who worship them.
In Romans 1, the apostle Paul takes great pains to show that every person everywhere knows of the one true God (Rom 1:18-20). The problem is, people don't like what they know of the one true God, so they change him into something else. Specifically, they change the one true God into the idols listed in Psalm 115. As a result, specific, identifiable, and certain consequences automatically follow.
Three times in the following verses (Rom 1:24, 26, 28), the apostle Paul uses the phrase "God gave them up…." In verses 24-25, God gives up people to sexual impurity who change his immortal glory into an idol. In verses 26-27, God gives up people to homosexuality who change God into something they like better. In verses 28-31, God gives up people to a corrupt mind who do not see fit to acknowledge God as he actually is. This corrupt mind leads to a whole list of what might be called sins of character (covetousness, malice, strife, deceit, gossip, and so forth). Each of these three lists (vss 24-25, 26-27, 28-31) provide real-life examples of what happens in an individual's life when they do not recognize God as he actually is.
It is important to understand that God does not cause these sins in those that reject him. No, these sins already lie in the hearts of each of us because of our sinful nature. By stating that "God gave them up," the apostle Paul is arguing that the natural restraint upon their fallen nature afforded by a correct view of God has been removed. People become like what they worship. When people do not worship God as he really is, they stray further and further from his character.
Please note this is not merely an academic argument. We have a real-life example of this phenomenon recorded in Exodus 32.
Previously, in Exodus 24, we read that Moses went to the top of Mount Sinai. To the people below the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. In reality, Moses was experiencing the glory of God face-to-face. According to Exodus 24:18, Moses stayed in the presence of God 40 days and 40 nights, or just shy of six weeks. During this time, Moses received detailed instructions concerning the construction of the tabernacle, the consecration of the priests, their garments, the recipe for the anointing oil and the fragrant incense, and so forth. The blueprints for all the physical items necessary for the correct worship of God were laid out before Moses.
The problem was that the people below didn't know all this was going on. As far as they were concerned, Moses went up into the fire and disappeared (Exod 32:1). Prior to this event, no instructions for proper worship had been given. So, when they decided that worship was the proper response to this event, they did what never should be done—they took matters into their own hands. They assembled before Aaron and demand that he make an idol of God so that the LORD would dwell in the midst of them.
Aaron responded by commanding they take off their gold earrings and give them to him. He took these golden earrings, melted them down, and made a golden calf from the molten metal. The people declared this idol to be the God that brought them up out of the land of Egypt (Exod 32:4).[i] Aaron then built an altar before this idol and declared a feast to the LORD (Exodus 32:5). At this festival, the people ate and drank to the point that it degenerated into drunken revelry.[ii]
Now, there is much to learn from the sad story. Worshiping the golden calf is a clear example of worshiping God incorrectly.
Please notice that this festival was intended as a feast to the LORD. The text is quite clear that the people were not seeking other gods, but were instead trying to honor the God who brought them out of Egypt. The problem was that they were worshiping God incorrectly. They had taken the LORD and turned him into an idol. They had changed the invisible creator God to an image made to look like part of his creation, and the result, sadly, was predictable. They had distorted the image of God and as a result fell into sin.
Worshiping idols always distorts the image of God, for there is no image in the created order (other than the cross) that correctly and completely encapsulates all of who God is. Inevitably an idol will emphasize one attribute at the expense of all the others.
In this case, the golden calf emphasized the strength of God. After all, he was the one that defeated the armies of Egypt, the greatest military power on earth at that time. So, using the image of a bull, the strongest animal with which they were acquainted, seemed appropriate. But by emphasizing his strength, the people downplayed God’s other attributes, particularly his holiness. As a result, there was no check upon the people's "worship." Their sinful natures took over so that the "worship" degenerated into the worst type of drunken excesses. This is the natural result of having an incomplete understanding of who God is.
Now, if all we had from the story were the facts above, that would be enough to make my point. But there is more to learn. While all of the above was going on, Moses remained on top of the mountain, face-to-face with God himself. Moses was in the most intimate type of communion with God imaginable. He was in the best situation to "get to know" God. So what effect did this private and personal fellowship have upon Moses?
When the LORD informed Moses of what was going on below, God's anger burned hot against his people (Exod 32:10). God told Moses it was his intention to totally destroy the people of Israel and start over again, making a great people out of Moses (Exod 32:10). Moses, in response, pleaded with God to remember his promises Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to make a great nation of them. “So the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people” (Exod 32:14).
So far so good. But what is really interesting is what happened next.
When Moses made it down to the people and saw the golden calf and the dancing, "Moses’ anger burned hot…” (Exod 32:19). In other words, Moses’ emotional reaction to the sin of the people was exactly the same as God's! Not only so, but his actions are similar as well.
He breaks the tablets of the Law that had been written by the finger of God. The implication of this action being that they did not deserve to be God's people. Then he stands up at the gate of the camp and issues a cry for all who are on the LORD’s side to gather to him. The tribe of Levi responds, and Moses gives them this instruction: “Thus says the LORDGod of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor’” (Exod 32:27). The tribe of Levi obeyed and they killed about 3000 men that day. Thus, Moses enacted, in miniature form, the very same judgment he pleaded with God not to do. Moses, by being in God's presence, was becoming more and more like him.
But even now, after all this, the story isn't over. There is still one more example of Moses modeling the attributes of God.
When Moses returned to the LORD, he once again interceded for the people. This, by itself, is not all that surprising. After all, he had already done that once. But now his intercession takes on a new urgency. He had witnessed the sin of the people firsthand. He had felt as God felt. He understood God's deep revulsion of sin and had even experienced it himself. He could now appreciate that God's initial judgment on the people had been right.
And yet, it seems that he had learned something else as well. For once again he acted just as God would act later on. When Moses appeared before God, he completely identified himself with the people under God's judgment. He pleaded with God to forgive their sin. But if God would not do that, he asked that God would take his life as well (Exod 32:32). In other words, it appears that Moses’ love for the people was so strong that he was willing to die for them instead of seeing them perish.
This is, of course, what God himself did in the person of Jesus Christ. God became man, like us in every way (excepting that he was without sin). Because of his great love for us, he was willing to die — and in fact did die — so that we would not perish. Like Moses, Jesus interceded with God on our behalf at the expense of his own life.
Evidently Moses, by getting to know God up on the mountain, learned not only of God's holiness and righteous anger, but also of his deep love. For really, what other reason can account for Moses, who was hot with anger, acting out the love of Jesus?
Conclusion
Lest we lose the larger point of this lesson, let us state it again. We become like what we worship. If our image of God is incorrect, we will become less and less like God and fall deeper and deeper into sin. But the more we worship the one true God — understanding him as he really is — then the more we will become like him.
And isn't that what you want — to become more like God? The quickest way I know to this goal is to get to know God better — to worship him correctly, that is, as he really is. To cast away all false notions of God and to worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23) should be the goal of every believer.
I don't know about you, but that's what I want. And that's why I'm writing this book — to help us both know God better and, in the process, become more like him.
[i] The Hebrew word for “God” in Exod 32:1 and 32:4 may correctly be translated as either a singular or a plural. So verse 4 may read either “These are your gods” or “This is your god.” The KJV, ESV and NIV translate it as a plural, while the NKJV and NASB translate it as a singular. The singular “this is your god” is to be preferred for two reasons. First, there was only one idol. Declaring the one idol to be their “gods” seems odd. Second, verse 5 is quite clear that the festival held was to the LORD (Yahweh), who is always referred to in the singular.
[ii] The word “play” carries with it sexual connotations. See Gen 26:8; 1 Cor 10:7.