He is God, truly God, in the fullest sense conveyed by the ineffable term God. To speak of what it means to be God is to speak of His Godhood. Manhood is what it means to be a man. Womanhood describes the essential meaning of being a true woman. Childhood is all about understanding that stage of life in which youth are trained up for adulthood. But what are the marks of Godhood, and what does it really mean to be God?
Is God’s power limitless or restricted? Is His control absolute or relative? How much influence does God have? Is He limited by man, by Satan, or sin? Can He do anything He desires? Could God create something or someone that He could not rule? These are important questions to ask when considering how sinners are saved, and in evaluating the teachings of Calvinism and Arminianism, at the heart of which is a view of God. So we begin our inquiry into the doctrines of grace by talking about what it means to be God and what prerogatives God has as God.
I can think of no better passage than Isaiah 46:9-11 to open the door into our study of Scripture on this subject.
“Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it.”
This passage teaches three things about God:
1. God is God Alone
“I am God, and there is no one like Me…..” God claims exclusive rights to this title, which, as a title, signifies the very thing He is claiming. In His person, He is God. One would not be God if there was a rival. God asked through Isaiah “To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?” (Isa. 40:18). When Paul speaks about “many gods and many lords,” it is “so-called gods” whom he is referring to (1 Cor. 8:5). Then he states the real truth: “Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him” (1 Cor. 8:6). He is transcendent, wholly-other, exclusive and totally unique.
2. God is High & Holy
“Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done…” How high do you have to be to see the end of the road? Flying in an airplane perhaps! God sees the end from the beginning because He is God in position. He has the official position of highest state. “Your way, O God, is holy; what god is great like our God?” (Psalm 77:13). To be holy means to be set apart from the creature and the creation. To be God in His position is to have the ability to declare the end from the starting point. God showed this to Isaiah before He commissioned Him to preach it! “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple” (Isa. 6:1). Job understood that God was “in the height of Heaven” (Job 22:12).
3. God is Lord & King
“…saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it.” Here is the full force of Godhood! He is the God who controls history – He declares the end from the beginning because He controls it; He is the God who purposes – “My purpose will be established;” He is the God who does all His holy will – “and I will accomplish all My good pleasure;” and who accomplishes His plan – “surely I have spoken, surely I will bring it to pass, surely I will do it.” And there is one other mark of His lordship in the kingdom of the world which is His. I like to think of it in this way: He is the God of surprises! Only God can surprise us in history with unexpected and unimaginable blessing. And that is what is meant in Isaiah 46:11 when God says “Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of My purpose from a far country.” This is a reference to Cyrus, the heathen King who would smooth the way for the exiled people of God (Isa. 45:1).
The entire Bible proclaims God as sovereign. But this passage helps us build a solid foundation when we try to answer the tough questions that are posed concerning election, predestination, and sovereignty. Our view of man and notions of human freedom are too high while our view of God is too low. “God is not a man” (Num. 23:19). Job declared, “For He is not a man as I am, that I may answer Him, that we may go to court together” (Job 9:32). Behold your God! Know our God! Worship your God! Serve Him only!
The Prerogatives of Godhood ~ Part 1 ~ Creation
If God is God, then He can do whatever He wants. A prerogative is a right to exercise a power or a privilege, and answer to no one. When we speak about the prerogatives of Godhood we are saying what David said in Psalm 115:3 ~ “But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.”
A baby has the prerogative to cry. Children have the prerogative of more frequent play. Adults have prerogatives that children do not have. Employers have prerogatives that employees do not have. Rich people have prerogatives that poor people do not have. But God has prerogatives that man does not have. God has ultimate prerogatives because He is God: “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’” (Isa. 46:10). You can’t get any higher than that. Understand that this is Godhood!
Can we identify the prerogatives of God in Scripture? As I see it, there are three mighty ones. We’ll explore the first one in this article, which is the prerogative to create.
The prerogative to create simply means that God chose to create the world out of no necessity placed upon Him. God did not create because He was lonely and needed companionship. He did not create because He was bored and needed something to do. He was not forced or compelled to create the world, the universe, mankind, angels, and human history. He did not create because He was unrecognized and needed to demonstrate His power. Psalm 90:1 says that “From everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” His Godhood reaches back into the ages of eternity before the creation, and stretches in the same way into eternity future. God is God, the same, with or without, before or after, the creation. In Romans 9:5 He is called “God blessed forever.” This teaches us that God is blessed in Himself. He has always been the blessed God, and always will be. His blessedness is not dependent on the creation.
The question naturally arises, Why did God create? Isaiah 43:7 says that God created for His glory: “Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made” (Isa. 43:7). But Paul takes us even further in responding to this important question.
Romans 11:36 tells us that “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” Notice the significant prepositions: from (source), through (passage), to (goal). The context of the end of Romans 11 is all about knowing the mind of God – it is deep, unsearchable, and unfathomable. And this is because everything created finds its source in Him, proceeds through His own being, and moves to the end(s) which He has ordained. He chose to create in the first place. And that choice has everything to do with Him, from beginning to end.
Ephesians 4:6 uses similar concepts: “…..one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.” Notice the prepositions again: over (transcendence), through (channel, providence, rationale), in (immanence). We certainly cannot press these prepositions too hard, but there is clearly a beginning to end, above and in temporal and spatial fullness being communicated in these great passages. These two verses alone remind us of just what Paul said about God being unfathomable!
Another supreme factor in the prerogative to create involves the relationship of Christ to the creation. Col. 1:16 indicates that God created the world for the glory of His Son. “For by Him (source, will) all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers of authorities – all things have been created through Him (agency) and for Him (purpose).”
This last preposition is of a different nature than the other two. By Him tells the historical fact. Through Him explains the means by which it happened. For Him gives the reason or rationale. This is what we are looking for! We want to know what compelled God to create the world. What made Him do it? Here we find that there was no necessity laid upon Him to do it, but He did it for Himself, specifically for His Son. This is why Jesus is the “firstborn” of creation (Col. 1:15) and why all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are stored up in Him (Col. 2:3).
What does the creation tell us about God then? First, it shows us that God is free. He is bound by no laws. The only law to which God is bound is Himself, His Tri-unity, and His integrity, His excellence and perfection. Second, it shows us that God is sovereign. We do not have ultimate control over the creation. We are cast upon the God who made us for everything we need in life, and in every circumstance of life. Creation shows us that God is glorious. He is incomprehensible and unfathomable.
Now isn’t it wonderful that even though God is so infinitely exalted over us, we can know Him – and we can know so much about Him. We just cannot plumb the depths or reach to the heights of His glorious being and ways. It also means, in a more practical way, that we won’t be able to have all our questions answered. We’ll be looking at this point in the third great prerogative of God in this series. God has the prerogative to reveal or reserve for Himself.
But we can know Him through the revelation of His written word and the brightness of the glory of His Son Jesus Christ in the Gospel. Do you know Him through faith in Christ? Has your faith in Christ brought you before the glory of the Godhood of God and His prerogatives to be the God who He is? This is true Christianity, and true satisfaction. For we are most satisfied when we know that God is God and believe that He can do whatever He wants.