{"id":2988,"date":"2019-04-25T10:50:09","date_gmt":"2019-04-25T14:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=2988"},"modified":"2019-04-25T10:50:09","modified_gmt":"2019-04-25T14:50:09","slug":"the-living-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=2988","title":{"rendered":"The Living God"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year as Resurrection Sunday approached I had a phrase of Scripture repeatedly pop into my mind: \u201cthe living God.\u201d
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I went searching through the Bible and discovered it occurs twenty-eight times in the Scripture (ESV). It is like a vein of gold running from cover to cover (literally, from Deuteronomy to Revelation).<\/p>\n

The Bible sets \u201cthe living God\u201d over against \u201cvain\u201d idols (Acts 14:15). God alone, uniquely is \u201cthe living God.\u201d There is no other. Idols, whatever form they take, are \u201cvain.\u201d That is to say, they are empty<\/em>. They are non-existent, except as a figment of the imagination in the minds of those who attribute being to them. They are<\/em> nothing. They can do<\/em> nothing. They are a lie<\/em>.<\/p>\n

God, on the other hand, is \u201cthe living God.\u201d He is<\/em>. He lives<\/em>, moves<\/em>, acts<\/em>, speaks<\/em>, does<\/em>. He is alive, present, and active. God is self-existing.<\/p>\n

God possesses life in a way that is unique to Him alone. Jesus said, \u201cthe Father has life in himself\u201d (John 5:26). His life is not a derived thing; it is not a contingent thing. God\u2019s life is dependent upon nothing external to Himself. That is why when He revealed Himself most intimately and personally to Moses He called Himself \u201cI AM.\u201d He declared, \u201cI AM WHO I AM\u201d (Ex. 3:14). Not, \u201cI was<\/em>.\u201d Nor, \u201cI will be<\/em>.\u201d But \u201cI AM\u201d\u2014ever, always, perpetually, without end He \u201cis.\u201d<\/p>\n

The psalmist declared to God, \u201cwith you is the fountain of life\u201d (Psalm 36:9). Paul said, \u201che himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything\u201d (Acts 17:25). This means that our life is a derivative, contingent thing. Job affirmed, \u201cIn his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind\u201d (Job 12:10). Our life, then, is derived from \u201cthe living God.\u201d The life you now enjoy comes from and is contingent upon Him. Your heartbeats, brainwaves, respirations continue at His will.<\/p>\n

God possesses life as something internal, immediate, and self-possessed. It is like the difference between being<\/em> the fire and sharing<\/em> the flame. The \u201cliving God\u201d gives us \u201clife\u201d like one lights the end of a stick from a bonfire; it can only continue to burn by remaining in the fire. But taken from the fire, that flame eventually flickers out\u2014unless it is brought back to the fire again and again.<\/p>\n

But what if the fire itself came to dwell in <\/em>the stick? Well, it might be like a bush that burns, but is never consumed (Exodus 3:2)!<\/p>\n

Indeed, \u201cthe living God\u201d \u201calone has immortality\u201d (1 Tim. 6:16). His, uniquely and solely, is unending, inextinguishable life.<\/p>\n

The Bible sets \u201cthe living God\u201d before us as a Triune being\u2014one God, yet existing in three persons. In the pages of the Bible we meet God \u201cthe living\u201d Father<\/em><\/strong>. Jeremiah declared, \u201cThe LORD is the true God; he is the living God\u201d (Jer. 10:10a). We meet in its pages, God \u201cthe living\u201d Son<\/em><\/strong>. When Jesus asked His Disciples who they believed Him to be, Peter answered, \u201cYou are the Christ, the Son of the living God\u201d (Matt. 16:16). The Scriptures hold Him before us as God \u201cthe living\u201d Spirit<\/em><\/strong>. Paul told the believers in the city of Corinth, \u201cyou are a letter from Christ \u2026 written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God\u201d (2 Cor. 3:3).<\/p>\n

The Triune God is \u201cthe fountain of life\u201d (Psa. 36:9). But Jesus promised He would be more than a fountain to which we must return again and again. He promised the one who believes in Him, that \u201cOut of his heart will flow rivers of living water\u201d (John 7:38). And John immediately explains: \u201cNow this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive\u201d (v.39a).<\/p>\n

As \u201cthe living God\u201d He is not content to keep that life to Himself. He gave life to animate creation at the beginning, but uniquely breathed the breath of life into humans whom He\u2019d made in His own image (Gen. 2:7). When our ancient ancestors rebelled, they incurred the judgment of \u201cdeath\u201d, a death that they passed on to every human being (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 5:17a). But \u201cthe living God\u201d determined the sentence would not end with the period of \u201cdead,\u201d but with the exclamation point of \u201clife<\/em>\u201d!<\/p>\n

So\u2014and here is the grand, good news (gospel)\u2014God \u201cthe living\u201d Father sent<\/em><\/strong> God \u201cthe living\u201d Son to die<\/em><\/strong> for our sins. Then God \u201cthe living\u201d Father, by the power of God \u201cthe living\u201d Spirit, raised<\/em><\/strong> the Son from the dead, restoring Him to an \u201cindestructible life\u201d (Rom. 1:4; Heb. 7:16).<\/p>\n

When a person hears<\/em> this, believes<\/em> this, and turns<\/em> their whole life to Him, God plants that very, indestructible, immortal, eternal life within that person by coming Himself to take up residence within that person. We then exist not just a brand plucked from the fire, but as one with the fire itself now dwelling within! He is then to us not just a fountain to which we must return again and again, but within us has become rivers of living water!<\/p>\n

The \u201cliving God\u201d comes to be<\/em> this life within us when we turn from \u201cvain idols\u201d and believe in and serve \u201cthe living God\u201d\u2014Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n

Allow me now to provide a quick fly-over of what the Bible teaches about how we are to live in relationship to \u201cthe living God.\u201d Think of this as a drone\u2019s-eye-view of things. Imagine the drone sending its video footage from far above back to your earth-bound heart.<\/p>\n

When we repent and believe in Jesus Christ we become \u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n