THE WISDOM OF GO
“O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou
made them all: the earth is full of thy riches” (Ps. 104:24). “If
any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all
men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him”
(James 1:5).
The foundation of true religion is to have proper thoughts of
God. Of the wicked it is said that God is not in all his thoughts:
“The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not
seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts” (Ps. 10:4).
Malachi tells of a remnant that think upon His name: “Then
they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and
the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of
remembrance was written before him for them that feared the
LORD, and that thought upon his name” (Mal. 3:16). The man
who thinks right about God will not be far wrong in his thinking
about other things. A thousand evils grow out of wrong
conceptions about God.
Wisdom belongs to God as an intelligent Spirit. It is a more
comprehensive attribute than knowledge; it not only supposes
knowledge, but directs and uses it in the best manner. There
are men who know much, so much that they may be regarded
as walking encyclopedias, but they have little wisdom; they do
not know how to use their knowledge. This is what is meant
when a man is referred to as a man of book learning, but
without common sense. He knows a lot, but he is without
wisdom. But God is both all knowing and all wise. “For the
LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge
and understanding” (Prov. 2:6).
1. WISDOM IS A PERSONAL PERFECTION IN GOD.
An unwise being cannot be the true God. Even Pythagoras, a
heathen philosopher, said: “No man is wise, but God only.”
And Job declares, “With him is wisdom and strength, he hath
counsel and understanding” (Job 12:13). “Daniel answered
and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for
wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the
seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth
wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know
understanding” (Dan. 2:20,21). He is three times called the
only wise God: “To God only wise, be glory through Jesus
Christ for ever. Amen” (Rom. 16:27); “Now unto the King
eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and
glory for ever and ever. Amen” (I Tim. 1:17); “To the only wise
God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power,
both now and ever. Amen” (Jude 25). The angels when
compared with Him are charged with folly: “Behold, he put no
trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly” (Job
4:18). His wisdom is unsearchable: “O the depth of the riches
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable
are his judgments, and his ways past finding out” (Rom.
11:33).
2. WISDOM APPEARS IN THE DECREES OF GOD.
God’s purposes and decrees are called His counsels. “O
LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy
name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old
are faithfulness and truth” (Isa. 25:1). Resolutions and
determinations of men are the wisest which are formed after
mature deliberation and consultation. “Where no counsel is,
the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is
safety” (Prov. 11:14). But God’s counsels are without
consultation, and His determinations are without deliberation.
Being naturally and infinitely wise, He requires no time to
deliberate; nor does He need some one with whom to
counsel. “For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who
hath been his counsellor” (Rom. 11:34); “For who hath known
the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have
the mind of Christ” (I Cor. 2:16).
God’s counsels are immutable. There is no change
necessary, for they were formed in wisdom. “There are many
devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the
LORD, that shall stand” (Prov. 19:21). “Declaring the end from
the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not
yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my
pleasure” (Isa. 46:10). God can declare the end from the
beginning, and from ancient times the things to pass, and
nothing can overthrow His counsel or thwart His will. “Wherein
God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of
promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an
oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible
for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have
fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us” (Heb.
6:17,18).
3. THE WISDOM OF GOD IS MANIFESTED IN CREATION.
“In wisdom hast thou made them all” (Ps. 104:24). We look
into the starry heavens and there see a marvelous display of
wisdom. Man, after centuries of gazing into the heavens with
the naked eye, and after decades of poking at the stars with
the telescope, is still a mere tyro in the subjects of astronomy
and astrology. We look into the airy region, from whence
comes rain and snow, which God wisely distributes on the
earth. We look upon the earth and everywhere we see design
that testifies to the wisdom of God: “cattle upon a thousand
hills; “pastures covered with flocks; valleys clothed with grass
for beasts and herbs for men. We look into the bowels of the
earth, and we see coal here, oil there, gold yonder, all wisely
distributed for the use of men. Truly all His works praise Him!
4. THE WISDOM OF GOD IS SEEN IN PROVIDENCE.
There are returning seasons: seed time and harvest, cold and
heat, summer and winter, night and day, all of which
evidences supernatural wisdom. This world is not run by
capricious chance, in or by cold fate, nor by natural law; it is
run by its Maker. “It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the
earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that
stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them
out as a tent to dwell in” (Isa. 40:22) and wisely orders all
things for His own glory. “For of him, and through him, and to
him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen” (Rom.
11:36). Providence may be defined as God’s superintendence
of His creation. It is God at work bringing to pass what He
eternally purposed should come to pass. Purpose is the
determination of His will; prophecy is the declaration of His
will; and providence is the execution of His will.
Providence is mysterious because it is the expression of
infinite wisdom. A finite being cannot understand the ways of
an infinite God. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments,
and his ways past finding out” (Rom. 11:33).
5. THE WISDOM OF GOD IS DISPLAYED IN THE WORK OF
HUMAN REDEMPTION.
Paul says that in our redemption by Christ, “Wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence” (Eph. 1:8). It
was in wisdom that “Grace first contrived the way to save
rebellious man.” Salvation was not planned by human
wisdom. And when planned by God and plainly revealed by
Him in His word, it is foolishness to the natural man. “But the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for
they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned” (I Cor. 2:14). The
wisdom of God is seen:
5a) In the discovery of the person to be our Redeemer. Here
stands a sinner, just any sinner! He has violated the law of
God; he has rebelled against the Divine government; he has
tried to dethrone the Judge of all the earth. What is to be done
with this sinner? Justice says, Cut him down; he deserves to
die. Truth says, He or I must perish, for I have declared that
“the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). Holiness says, I hate
the workers of iniquity. Mercy, in soft and plaintive tones,
cries, Spare him! What? is there to be a conflict among the
Divine attributes? Yes! unless Wisdom had come, leading
One like unto the Son of Man saying, “Then he is gracious
unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I
have found a ransom” (Job 33:24). When man was wallowing
in his own blood, it was Wisdom that said, “Then thou spakest
in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one
that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people”
(Ps. 89:19). Who but God, infinite in wisdom, could have
discovered such a fit Redeemer as we have in Christ Jesus?
Our Redeemer was not a sinful man, nor a holy angel, but the
Son of God, who is every way qualified to save us. And the
discovery of such a person must be ascribed solely to the
wisdom of God. Had all men been called together, and told
that God was willing that they should be redeemed, if they
could find a proper person for this gigantic task; and had all
the holy angels been called into consultation upon the matter;
they would never have been able to propose one fit for such a
tremendous task. Ponder these thoughtful words of Jonathan
Edwards:
“Who would have thought of a trinity of persons in the
Godhead; and that one should sustain the rights of the
Godhead; and another should be the Mediator; and another
should make the application of redemption? Who would have
thought of a way for answering the law, the law that
threatened eternal death, without the sinner suffering eternal
death? And who would have thought of any such thing as a
Divine Person suffering the wrath of God? And if they had
who would have contrived a way how he should suffer, since
the Divine nature cannot suffer?”
5b) The wisdom of God appears in the persons fixed upon to
be redeemed. Redemption is not universal. There its no
redemption for the Devil and his angels. If redemption were
universal, then salvation would likewise be universal. Rev. 5:9
is explicit and conclusive as to the truth of particular
redemption, even among fallen men: “And they sung a new
song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open
the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us
to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and
people, and nation.” Christ redeemed particular persons. We
cannot understand why one was selected rather than another,
for all were by nature children of wrath, and of the same
common clay. “Among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of
the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of
wrath, even as others” (Eph. 2:3); “Hath not the potter power
over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto
honour, and another unto dishonour?” (Rom.m 9:21).
Distinguishing grace is a profound mystery, but it is a
Scriptural doctrine. Our Savior memorialized the wisdom of
God in distinguishing grace, when He said, “At that time Jesus
answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise
and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so,
Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.” (Matt. 11:25-26).
5c) The wisdom of God may be seen in the time of man’s
redemption. The Redeemer came in the fullnes of time, the
time agreed upon between the Father and the Son. Four
thousand years of human history fully revealed the need of a
redeemer. It is an inexorable truth “And almost all things are
by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is
no remission” (Heb. 9:22). And all the blood on Jewish altars
had been to no avail, “For it is not possible that the blood of
bulls and of goats should take away sins” (Heb. 10:4). It was
not because of the value of animal sacrifices, but “through the
forbearance of God, “that sins of Old Testament saints were
remitted: “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the
remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of
God” (Rom. 3:25).
The blood of beasts only typified and adumbrated the blood of
God’s Lamb, the only blood that could be the righteous basis
for redemption.
When the Gentile world was covered with darknesss,
superstition, ignorance, and wickedness of all kinds when
immorality, formality, hypocrisy, and contempt for the word of
God among the Jews prevailed then Christ said “If any of you
lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men
liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James
1:5).
“Only one life to live and soon is past
Only what’s done for Christ will last!”
Hoping to make the time I have left count for the glory of God.
THE WISDOM OF GOD
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