TEXT: Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."
INTRO: The contemplation of God is an awesome task. Any attempt to comprehend Him in His Fullness would prove to be as futile as trying to dam up the mighty Mississippi with a twig; reach the top of the magnificent Mt Everest with a step stool, or stop the launch of the Shuttle with strands of thread.
Concerning the greatness of God, R. G. Lee once wrote: "God is the Creator behind all creation. God is the Designer behind all design. God is the Lawmaker behind all law. God is the supreme fact of history. God is the supreme fact of science. God is the supreme fact of philosophy... God is the Mighty God personally and actively present in the affairs of the universe. God is the great need of the human heart... God is the great need of the vast creation in which we live".
I. Great Attributes of God.
Scripture paints a beautiful portrait of a Great and Mighty God. Within the pages of the Holy Writ, He is seen as:
A. Eternal. "... LORD, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God". (Psa 90:1-2)
B. Intelligent. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts". (Isa 55:8-9)
C. Holy. "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. (Isa 57:15)
D. Good. "The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works". (Psa 145:9)
"O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him" (Psa 34:8)
E. Omnipotent. To Abraham He said "I Am God, Almighty"
F. Omniscient. "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do" (Heb 4:13)
"Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee" (Psa 139:12)
G. Omnipresent. "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me". (Psa 139:7-10)
The Old Testament presents to its readers an Almighty, Awesome God. "Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? (Exo 15:11)
II. Great Acts of God.
The Greatness of God is further attested to when considering His great works. The Psalmist exhorts all the earth to "Praise Him for his might acts ..." (Psalms 150:2) In Psalms 145:4 he states "One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts".
The first verse in the Bible is much-quoted, yet often underestimated. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth". Have you ever thought of the ramifications of that verse? The Psalmist puts it this way: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork" (Psa 19:1).
God’s great power demonstrated in nature is magnificent. If one would begin his contemplation of God by taking into effect all the marvels that surround us, we would be stand in utter amazement of our Great God.
Think for a moment of the great planet upon which we live. We call it earth.
Earth is a planet whose diameter is 8,000 miles. If you would tunnel to the core of planet earth, you would find a raging inferno registering temperatures in excess of 9,000o F. Yet you and I are cold in the winter and experience only mild discomfort in the heat of a bright summer day.
Take a moment to consider God’s acts of magnificence in the planets, comets, and the sun.
Our sun, the center of our solar system is 93,000,000 miles away. It diameter is 109 times that of earth (868,000 miles). Yet, even the sun wanes in significance when compared to the giant star Betelgeuse which is an incredible 800 times as big as our sun (Diameter of 700,000,000 miles)!!
Scientists tell us the surface temperature of our sun is 9,500o F. However, the core temperature is an astounding 27,000,000o F!! The earth intercepts only 1/1,000,000 of the sun’s light and heat.
Look up at night into a clear, starlit sky. Consider the immensity of the skies.
There are 4 well-known stars which are the nearest to planet earth. These stars are: Alpha Centauri (nearest star); Sirius; Cygni and Vega. The distance of these stars from earth is staggering.
Astronomers in Light Years measure distances to stars and planets. A Light Year is the distance a ray of light will travel in 1 year. Light travels at the rate of 186,300 miles per second. To give you an example of the speed of light, it takes a beam of light:
1/60th sec ....... NY to SF
1/8th sec ........ Around world
Light can travel 5.88 trillion miles (12 0’s) in one year. Now consider these staggering facts.
Alpha Centauri is 4.4 Light Years from earth [25.87 Trillion Miles]
Sirius is 8.6 LY from the earth [50.56 Trillion Miles]
Cygni is 11.2 LY from earth [65.86 Trillion Miles]
Vega is 27.0 LY from earth [158.76 Trillion Miles]
To put it into terms we might more readily fathom, to calculate the distance of Vega take every inhabitant of the earth (men, women, boys, girls), multiply that number by 40,000,000 have them stand on each others shoulders, and the person at the top could touch Vega!!
Consider the great expanse of our Galaxy. Astronomers tell us the distance from one end of the Milky Way to the other is 100,000 light years, and contains over 2 billion stars.
The greatness of creation doesn’t end here. For we are told that the Andromeda Galaxy is 2.2 million light years away. This translates into 117 Sextillion; 601 Quintillion; 176 Quadrillion miles away. This is 117 with 21 0’s!! The Andromeda Galaxy alone contains over 300 billion stars.
There are nearly 20 smaller galaxies, each containing 100 billion stars. This means that we know of more than 2.5 trillion stars!! "And these stars are but dewdrops on the lawn of the Father’s house".
Now consider this: Scripture records "He telleth [knows] the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names". (Psa 147:4)
"Behold, the Lord GOD ... hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance" (Isa 40:12)
In astonishment and awe we say, with David:
"Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high, Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth"! -- Psa 113:5-6
We look up at the great expanse of the universe -- God looks down upon it!
We measure the distances between planets with our sophisticated scientific instruments -- God measures them with the span of His hand!
We rely upon the heat and light of the sun for our very existence -- in antiquity, God set it ablaze and hung it in its place!
It takes light over 117 Sextillion Years to reach us from the furthest point known to man -- Christ will traverse a greater distance in a "moment, in the twinkling of an eye"!
We stand in amazement of the immensity of that great star Betelgeuse -- God holds it in the hollow of His hand!
The Psalmist declared that:
"..He alone doeth great wonders:
".. He by wisdom made the heavens:
".. He stretched out the earth above the waters
"..He made the sun to rule by day: and the moon and stars to rule by night
Psalms 18:10: "And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind".
Psalms 29:10 "The LORD sitteth upon the flood..."
1 Chr 16:25 "For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods".
Psalms 48:1 "..Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness"
Psalms 145:3 "Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable"
Is it any wonder that the Jews of the Old Testament held God in such high esteem that they would not even mention the name of Jehovah, thinking it was too High and Holy for human lips to utter!?
III. The Distant Came Near
Return to the text for just a moment today. "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel". (Isa 7:14) This was the answer to centuries of cries unto God. Isaiah, in 64:1 clearly presents the agonizing of the human soul as he writes "Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down..."
There did, indeed come a time when this mighty God who manifests Himself in the magnificent and the mysterious was manifest in the flesh. There was a time when the DISTANT CAME NEAR. Paul, writing to Timothy states: "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory". (1 Tim 3:16)
Our great God clothed Himself in human flesh and came to become Immanuel ("God with us") in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ!
He came down from the coronations of heaven to the condemnations of earth.
From the excellencies of heaven to the executions of earth.
From favor of the Father’s face to the fury of men’s faces.
From the intercessions of heaven to the injustices of earth.
From the kindness of heaven to the killing of earth.
From the majesties of heaven to the miseries of earth.
From the songs of heaven to the sneers of earth.
From the throne of heaven to the tree of Calvary.
The Distant Came Near!
See Him here, the One who spoke into existence the expansive universe; who formed the sun in the palm of His hand and set it ablaze to serve as a furnace to warm His people and a light to guide them on their way; who calls each star by their names; who cut the mighty Mississippi, Ohio, and Amazon rivers through a dry a parched land with the effortless movement of His finger; who breathed the immortal breath into the soul of the first man, Adam -- The Distant Came Near!
The once Distant God who now declares "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world". The One who could once be described as having heaven as His throne and the earth as His footstool, is now heard to say "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee". The Distant Came Near.
IV. Application.
What does this mean to us today. What lessons can be learned from the enormous truth that the Distant Came Near. I believe there are 3.
1. We learn of the greatness of our God. In hearing of the majesty of God, a song of praise wells up in the deep recesses of my soul: "O, Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hands have made. I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee -- How Great Thou Art, How Great Thou Art!!" And again, "All hail the power of Jesus’ name, let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of All!
2. Our Faith is increased. We are often tempted to feel as though a particular circumstance or problem is outside the scope of God’s ability to solve. But now, after seeing His Largeness; His immensity; His ordering of the planets; His creation of all things, we should surely now be able to exclaim "with God ALL things are possible". If He can manage the affairs of this vast universe, please inform me of that he cannot do!
3. Our self-worth is increased. There should be not one person here today who feels they are worthless. My friend, The Distant Came Near for You!
