Sunday Message: A god, defined

Yesterday I happened across a Twitter post that showed a link and was titled by the poster "Old Time Religion".  Curious, I clicked and found that, for whatever reason the poster had to show it, it was a site belonging to a group encouraging the worship of the ancient Norse gods.  Now, having studied the subject and even having delved into Rune-type magic back in the "not so young but still stupid" days, I know a fair amount about the ancient gods and myths.  One thing that struck me over and over again, whether the myth be Norse, Greek, Sumerian, Egyptian, was that these "gods" had very little to do with being what I would term "Godly".  In fact, most of them could be described as having human intentions, human intellect, human desires, and human foibles- but with "super powers".  Which then makes sense that every comic book company has a representation in their super-hero books of Thor, Hercules, Zeus, etc.


In other words, the concept of "gods" as created by men is based a lot upon "what would I do if I were god."  And that conception is what makes it so easy for atheists to debate, with catch phrases like, "Oh, you believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, too?", "I would never want to worship a god that does thus-and-so", and other such garbage.  They believe that by attacking God as they perceive Him- a super-powered being that thinks and acts just like us, or how we think we would act if we were Him,- they are casting doubt upon the TRUTH of God.  And they are nowhere close.


I am reading in Isaiah now, and much of it has been a cycle of God's word attacking idols, punishing Israel for accepting them, and showing glimpses of the Messiah to come.  One particular passage seems central to the Godly definition of being God, and that comes in Isaiah 41:21-24.  In it, God defies the idols to "Present their case".  In effect, He challenges them to do one thing in particular which separates Him from them:

Let them bring forth and show us

what will happen;

Let them show the former things, 

what they were;

that we may consider them, 

and know the latter end of them;

or declare to us the things to come. (V22)

To put in plain language, through the Pentateuch, God has told the tale of history, what has happened, how it has a bearing on the end of things.  The very prophet speaking is a proof of this.  In Chapter 44, he speaks of the coming Persian king Cyrus being God's "Shepherd," despite the fact that Isaiah was speaking at least 100 years before Babylon took Jerusalem, and 80 years BEFORE THE BIRTH of Cyrus of Persia!  So God is saying, part of being God is knowing the totality of history, and how the beginning ties to the end, and how the idols can't match that.

But there is more.  The passage goes on:

Show the things that are to come

hereafter;

That we may know that you are gods,

Yes, do good or evil,

That we may be dismayed and see it together. (V23)

Indeed, the idols back then did nothing but sit there.  And what of the idols of today?  I've quoted from Michio Kaku's books many times; he chases things through the words of others all the way to the precipice where some agree that common sense shows that even quantum research points out the need for a creator, and the stubbornness of those who won't see it that way- but without actually making a judgement himself.  Those stubborn "scientists" (unfortunately the majority, at least in word) God actually covers just a bit down the way:

Isa 48:3  I have foretold the former things from the beginning; and they went out of My mouth; and I made them hear; I acted suddenly; and they came about. 
Isa 48:4  Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your brow bronze. 
Isa 48:5  And I declared it to you from the beginning. Before it happened I revealed it to you; lest you should say, My idol has done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, has commanded them. 
Isa 48:6  You heard; see it all; and will you not declare? I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, and you did not know them. 
Isa 48:7  They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when you did not hear them; lest you should say, Behold, I knew them. 

And so, science scurries to build a new idol, which can say, "I told you about this,"  but every step God is ahead of them.

And that new thing, which even the idols today can't comprehend?  Why, I told you that back at the start- the story of the Messiah woven through Isaiah's prophecy:

the Redeemer who will thresh the mountains (41:14-15)

who will not cry out, nor break the bruised reed (42:1-4)

who is God right beside the Father (44:6)

who will save both Jew and Gentile (49:5-6)

and would suffer to make it so (52:13-15).

The Norse gods?  They have a future plan.  It's called Ragnarok:  Everyone dies, then a few get resurrected to start the process again.

The Hindu gods?  Shiva had his son die- cut his head off himself, and sewed an elephant's head back on him.

The Greek gods?  They changed their names and became Roman citizens, apparently.

Only a God beyond our understanding could make all things in a way we'd never quite understand with a goal in mind that had nothing to do with lust, or greed, or evil.  And since a God by definition is something BEYOND man and nature, that should be both proof and comfort.