The Beauty of His Manifold Perfections and Wondrous Deeds Throughout the Ages

How often we look at the wondrous things God has done throughout the ages; how often we look at the various declarations and manifestations of His perfections throughout the ages, both in this fallen creation, ourselves, and His Scripture; however, do we truly see these things, or do we hold to a romanticized version of them which is only our own finite take on His infinite actions and perfections which He has given us a record of in Scripture?

I submit to you, an unbalanced view of God and all that He has done and is doing is a form of idolatry; I further submit that most who call themselves “Christians,” these days, are guilty of this, as they magnify one aspect of His gloriously holy essence over another, and “humanize” that aspect, so that He more resembles the created creature than the Reigning Triune God of Scripture, and that confession of such idolatry, with repentance, is necessary, if they would truly see the righteous, faithful Judge of the world.

We often reflect upon the salvation of the Lord – how He saved Abraham out of a land of idolatry; how He saved Isaac by providing a sacrifice in His place to give us a type of how our Redeemer would save His people – yet do we realize, that in every instance of the gracious and unmerited mercy of God, He always displays His judgment of that which is hostile towards and against His holiness?

We should: Every type in the Old Testament points always to both, and the reality of our Lord taking the righteous judgment for our sins by taking the incredible wrath of God to atone for them is the clearest example of both God’s gracious mercy and His wrathful judgment.

Grace is never given where judgment has not been performed, and if we are to consider the wondrous deeds of our God throughout the ages, as well as His manifold perfections, we cannot truly consider one without the other.

• Lot is saved; his wife looks back upon that which they have been commanded not to again consider, and dies, then Sodom and Gomorrah are entirely destroyed with the inhabitants who have perverted their ways in defiance of the holiness of God, and given eternal damnation as their reward (Jude 17).

• Israel is saved from Egypt, and this, after the land of Egypt has been ravaged by the judgments of God even to the loss of all the firstborn of man and beast, then again suffers the wrath and judgment of God in the waters of the Red Sea.

Do we consider these great examples of salvation without noting that great judgment of sin also took place; do we think of these things as “the beauty of His manifold perfections and His wondrous deeds throughout the ages?”

Do we even begin to think of God’s righteous judgment against sin, in all and every age, as “beautiful?”

Surely we think of His mercy, grace and love for His own as beautiful, but do we consider the manifestation of His judgment against sin as He does?

For surely, God intends His judgment against sin not simply to awe us as to His power, but to be praiseworthy in and of itself, since it depicts the infinite perfection of His holy character as one particular manifestation of His glory, even as salvation by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is a particular manifestation of His glory.

In Psalm 96, we have a paean of praise and worship that captures all the elements of that which we are considering: His glory is to be magnified, or ascribed to Him who alone has such glory; salvation is an integral element of this worship; fear of the Lord for who He is, as shown by His wondrous works, is a part of this praise, as we tremblingly adore He alone who has strength and beauty, and is clothed in majesty and splendor; finally, judgment is mentioned according to His faithfulness, where He executes His judgment over all the peoples of the earth according to His righteousness (for there is no higher righteousness by which they are to be judged), and that faithfulness is awaited with an anticipation of hope by those He has set His favor upon.

So, we see that even as we consider His unmerited salvation to those who are His according to His faithfulness and righteousness, in this pure song of praise and worship of God, according to His glory, we must consider that which He executes upon those who are not His as being beautiful, though we might not consider such devastating events as our God’s final judgment upon the world to be a cause for seeing beauty and being joyful, in a purely human mindset (but such is not to be the mindset of His saints).

There are other instances of seeing God’s judgment as beautiful; as being among those manifold perfections and wondrous, glorious deeds, in Scripture – such as the Song of Moses (Exodus 15:1-19), after the Egyptians were judged by God according to His predetermined purpose (Genesis 15:13-14). In this celebration of God’s mighty works both His salvation and His judgment are intermingled – the people sing with joy about His judgment as much as they do in regards to His salvation, and it is all based in His immutable, infinite, holy character (vs. 11, 18). In the midst of their joyous singing, they also ascribe the glory He is due for His merciful love, salvation and sustaining providence (vs. 15:2, 13, 17).

We look upon those plagues upon Egypt with awe and fear, and rightly so, for as we have already seen, fear and trembling are necessary elements of singing praise and ascribing glory to our God – He is the most terrible of adversaries, for once in His hands as unbelievers, there is no escape (Hebrews 10:31). This should make us search our soul and remember the end of those who say they know God, yet in the last part, walk away from Him, showing that, by their ultimate denial of Him, they were only practicing morality according to the blessings God gives to His covenant community, yet themselves were never a part of it (Hebrews 6:4-8; 10:26-30; 1 John 2:18-19).

Psalm 96:11-13: “Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; 12 let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy 13 before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.”