THE GREATNESS OF OUR YAHWEH GOD...

No true children of God have to be told about the greatness of their God.  This awareness is built into them through the new man - Christ himself which lives in each of them.  But the grace of God is manifold. (Eph. 3:10; I Pet 4:10)  Let us take a small glance at it.

Every day the true children of God experience the mercies of their God.  They experience the longsuffering of their Lord towards their sins.  So why even speak of it?  Perhaps to praise our Lord for his greatness I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High. (Ps. 9:1-2); The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him. (Ps. 28:7)

He deserves our praise!  Some, seeking to diminish his uniqueness and glory speak of the now-forgotten gods of the Babylonians.  These "gods" are now kept in museums, their cities and temples, heaps of rubble, a habitation for the creatures of the night.  They are legends for the history books, studied only by those dedicated to ancient near eastern history.  (Rev 18:2)  Although there are some superficial similarities between Babylonian accounts of creation and the flood.  The differences are startling.  Like the Greek gods, they are lazy, immoral and whimsical imitations of those who created them - men.  Marduk, the leader of the "young" gods (these having been created themselves, having been born), were about to be destroyed by the senior god Apsu because he could not sleep:

These young gods, however, were extremely loud, troubling the sleep of Apsu at night and distracting him from his work by day. Upon the advice of his Vizier, Mummu, Apsu decides to kill the younger gods. Tiamat, hearing of their plan, warns her eldest son, Enki (sometimes Ea) and he puts Apsu to sleep and kills him. From Apsu's remains, Enki creates his home.

Tiamat, once the supporter of the younger gods, now is enraged that they have killed her mate. She consults with the god, Quingu, who advises her to make war on the younger gods. Tiamat rewards Quingu with the Tablets of Destiny, which legitimize the rule of a god and control the fates, and he wears them proudly as a breastplate. With Quingu as her champion, Tiamat summons the forces of chaos and creates eleven horrible monsters to destroy her children.

What a loving image of motherhood.  We continue:

Ea, Enki, and the younger gods fight against Tiamat futilely until, from among them, emerges the champion Marduk who swears he will defeat Tiamat. Marduk defeats Quingu and kills Tiamat by shooting her with an arrow which splits her in two; from her eyes flow the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Out of Tiamat's corpse, Marduk creates the heavens and the earth, he appoints gods to various duties and binds Tiamat's eleven creatures to his feet as trophies (to much adulation from the other gods) before setting their images in his new home. He also takes the Tablets of Destiny from Quingu, thus legitimizing his reign.

After the gods have finished praising him for his great victory and the art of his creation, Marduk consults with the god Ea (the god of wisdom) and decides to create human beings from the remains of whichever of the gods instigated Tiamat to war. Quingu is charged as guilty and killed and, from his blood...

Why was man created according to these accounts?  Instead of being created in innocence, in the image of their creator and with dignity like Genesis describes, here is what we find:

Mankind is created from the blood of the captured leader of the rebel gods (a sort of devil among the gods) in order to work as slaves for the lazy lower gods and feed the Babylonian pantheon.

Compare this to the true account of creation:

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Gen. 2:7); And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. (Gen 2:18); And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.  And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. (Gen 2:21-23)

This is a God who cared about man.  Instead of creating him a slave due to any laziness, he created him to rule over the rest of creation.  He provided food for him, he provided a mate for his loneliness and every day Adam walked with this eternal, merciful loving being.

Ultimately, when this man Adam, His creation, disobeyed Him by eating of the fruit of the forbidden tree, our great and merciful Lord had provided a sacrifice to pay for His sins and the sins of all of his elect children.  This sacrifice that had to suffer, be spit upon, insulted by mere men and crucified was none other than God Himself - the prince of peace, the light of the world, the way the truth and the life, the good shepherd who would not abandon any of his sheep and lose not even one, who would leave the 99 sheep to seek that single lost one until he found it, the one who cried while overlooking Jerusalem and said,  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! (Mat 23:37) Yet for the true Jerusalem, the spiritual Jerusalem he gave His life that all who would believe in Him might have life and have it more abundantly, as opposed to thieves, who come silently to steal and to kill! (John 10:10)  What a GREAT God!  Worthy of all praise for eternity.  Every dirty filthy sin we have committed and will commit, he paid for - he an innocent, spotless, sinless being!

But alas!  This was all part of the plan of God before the world was ever made, Jesus was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world! Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. (Rev. 4:11) . 

Where are the gods who sacrificed themselves for their creation, by taking on their own sins on their shoulders?  The heathen gods looked on strength and mercilessness as good qualities.  Some might say that God was merciless with the instructions given to Joshua concerning the killing of the Canaanites.  But when one considers how many, in our present world, and in now-passed eras have denied the true God, the countless millions who have lived and died, committing sins on an hourly basis, have been allowed to live, to enjoy the sunlight, to love their families, yet deny the God who created them, one is left with a different feeling.  We then see the patience of God, And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth (Ex 34:6; Num 14:18; Ps 86:15).  This then makes us see that the Lord could have easily destroyed mankind for their rebellion and sin.  But unlike His Babylonian impostors, love is His activating principle.  Some might say His holiness is, but we say it is love.  Why?  Look at I Cor 13:1-3: 

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. [ed. older word charity changed to love is mine]

These are statements made about God's children in whom Jesus dwells, thus it is a reflection of God Himself and His priorities.

We feel unworthy to speak these things, but like the stones, we must cry out glory to our King and Savior Jesus.

God of creation (Gen. 1:1)

There at the start

Before the beginning of time

With no point of reference

You spoke to the dark (Gen 1:3)

And fleshed out the wonder of light

And as You speak

A hundred billion galaxies are born (Gen 1:14)

In the vapor of Your breath the planets form

If the stars were made to worship so will I (Ps. 69:34)

I can see Your heart in everything You’ve made

Every burning star

A signal fire of grace

If creation sings Your praises so will I (Ps. 19:1)

God of Your promise

You don’t speak in vain (Is. 55:11)

No syllable empty or void

For once You have spoken

All nature and science

Follow the sound of Your voice

And as You speak

A hundred billion creatures catch Your breath (Ps. 147:9)

Evolving in pursuit of what You said

If it all reveals Your nature so will I

I can see Your heart in everything You say

Every painted sky

A canvas of Your grace

If creation still obeys You so will I (Ps. 148:8)

So will I

So will I

If the stars were made to worship so will I (Job 38:7)

If the mountains bow in reverence so will I (Amos 4:13)

If the oceans roar Your greatness so will I (Mat. 8:27)

For if everything exists to lift You high so will I

If the wind goes where You send it so will I (Ps 78:26)

If the rocks cry out in silence so will I (Luke 19:40)

If the sum of all our praises still falls shy

Then we’ll sing again a hundred billion times (Isa 6:3)

God of salvation

You chased down my heart (Luke 19:10)

Through all of my failure and pride (Rom 5:8)

On a hill You created (Mark 15:22)

The light of the world (John 8:12)

Abandoned in darkness to die (Mat 27:46)

And as You speak (John 19:30)

A hundred billion failures disappear (Luke 7:47)

Where You lost Your life so I could find it here (II Cor 5:15)

If You left the grave behind You so will I (Luke 24:5-7)

I can see Your heart in everything You’ve done

Every part designed in a work of art called love (Gal 2:20)

If You gladly chose surrender so will I (Luke 23:46)

I can see Your heart

Eight billion different ways

Every precious one

A child You died to save

If You gave Your life to love them so will I (John 15:13)

Like You would again a hundred billion times

But what measure could amount to Your desire (Eph 2:7)

You’re the One who never leaves the one behind (Luke 15:4-7)