Word of Encouragement (12/02/2021)

“And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, ‘Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed’” (Rev. 15:3-4).

The second praise that the 144,000 sing is, “Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!” After praising God for His almighty power, they praise Him for His justice and truth. It is important that these two are mentioned together: while each attribute of God is important, equally important is the harmony of all divine attributes in God.

The doctrine in view is the simplicity of God. This doctrine posits that God does not just “have” His attributes; He “is” all His attributes: there is no distinction between His Being and His attributes (whereas such distinction exists in us: we can miss some human attributes [such as our body parts and certain mental abilities] and still be “human”). And He is 100% of each of His attributes, not all His attributes totaling 100%. While the analogy breaks down at some point, we may say that all His attributes are essentially “one” like the light and His varied attributes are like the different colors that appear when the light passes through a prism.

Why the harmony of all His divine attributes is important can be seen even in this song of praise. In the first part of this song, God is praised for His almighty power. In the second part, He is praised for His justice and truth. You can see why the conjunction conjoining of these two is important. Imagine God simply being almighty. What will stop Him from being a cruel, fickle tyrant? Absolute power corrupts absolutely, doesn’t it? But we have the assurance that God is also just and true. It is therefore contrary to His nature to use His power for anything unjust and evil.

Of course, if God were only almighty and just, we will have no hope of salvation. It would be only right for Him to punish us for our sins with His almighty power. Even though it is not mentioned in the praise of the 144,000, God is also gracious and merciful. So, God has chosen to save some out of the fallen human race. Even so, His method of salvation required the satisfaction of His justice. That is why Jesus had to come and bear the guilt and punishment of our sins as well as fulfill the righteous requirement of the law in our place (Rom. 8:4).

The reason that God’s grace is not mentioned in this song is that this song serves as the prelude to the final cycle of divine judgment in Revelation. Because He is just and true, He must not let any sin go unpunished. Because He is almighty, He can, and will, judge the living and the dead according to what they deserve. When He renders His judgment, no one will be able to accuse Him of injustice and inequity, not only because He is all-powerful but also because He is just and true. So, all will fear and glorify His name on that day, even those who are condemned to eternal punishment in hell.

God is not like the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology, each of whom represents only certain qualities. God embodies all divine attributes in fullness and perfection. That means we can come to Him for all our concerns and problems. We can also be certain that He will do all things right and well. Even though He may not answer our prayers according to our (myopic) desires, He will grant us what is truly good—that which will bring glory to His name as well as true joy and delight to us.