Title: The Blessed and Only Sovereign
Scripture: 1 Timothy 6:15-16
Speaker: Nate Pickowicz
Well, in the years leading up to the Babylonian captivity, the prophet Isaiah was warning Judah, the southern kingdom, about the danger of not following the Lord. See, the northern kingdom of Israel at that time had fallen to the Assyrians in 722 BC, and now the southern kingdom of Judah was on the heels of the same fate if they didn't turn their heart to follow God. Of course, they were prone to look to earthly saviors, foreign nations, and false gods, and even their own devices.
But what they really needed to do was trust in the Lord God who had been faithful to them all along. And so, the purpose of Isaiah's prophecy was not only to pronounce judgment for apostasy, but also to proclaim hope to those who would trust in the Lord. And it's interesting because there's a shift, and if you read Isaiah, all 66 chapters, there's a shift in chapter 40 in this dynamic treatise, and he begins this shift toward hope with this treatise on the greatness of God, and it culminates in the following verses.
Just listen to the prophecy of Isaiah, speaking of the Lord here. Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, My way is hidden from the Lord, and the justice due Me escapes the notice of My God? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.
He gives strength to the weary. And to him who lacks might, He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength.
They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary.
Marvelous words from the prophet Isaiah of the Lord God. In this climactic declaration, Isaiah is setting forth the uniqueness of God. The creativity of God.
His power, His eternality, His omnipotence, His majesty. In doing so, Isaiah intends to comfort and encourage God's people unto faithfulness through the apprehension of God's own character and God's attributes. And truthfully, this is what's needed today.
I think it's very easy for us to fall into the trap of believing that we need to live the Christian life and yet be devoid of a true and thorough understanding of who God is. I think theology is lacking in the church. We tend to think that theology is only for the eggheads and the smart people and theologians.
No, theology is for all of us. It's for every single believer. From 5 years old to 95 years old.
It doesn't make a difference who you are. We need theology. And what is theology? Well, it's the study of God.
And we have a category in theology called theology proper. Which is really just the study of the person of God. His attributes.
His person. Who He is. Because that's the question.
Well, what's He like? Who is He? How can we know Him? And there are passages that emphasize various aspects of who God is. And Isaiah 40 is one of those kinds of passages. But this morning, we're going to get a glimpse of God from 1 Timothy 6, verses 15 and 16 in a message I'm calling, The Blessed and Only Sovereign.
So if you haven't already turned there, turn to 1 Timothy 6. And I think you're going to see where this connects nicely to Isaiah 40. His big treatise there. But Isaiah 6, what the Apostle Paul is doing here is he's launching into his final exhortation.
He's brought us through a lot of territory. And I was kind of going back and just in my mind thinking about everything we've covered in the last 11 months. I mean, we've been in 1 Timothy since last summer, really.
We've covered so much territory about church governance and leadership and prayer and men and women's roles and widows and all these different topics of church life. And Paul has been writing all this to Timothy, his young disciple. But he's also writing this for the benefit of the church in Ephesus.
And by virtue, our church as well. And he's contrasting here in this final dissent here. He's contrasting the greed and the godlessness of the false teachers.
And he's now exhorting the true believers unto contentment and unto godliness. And then he notes here in 1 Timothy 6, verses 9 and 10. He says, But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and the snare and the many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.
He says, For the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. Again, he's talking about those people who have rejected the way of life. But now Paul is going to turn and commend five key pursuits in the following verses about following righteousness.
And we saw these last week. He says, But flee from these things, these evil things, O you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Then he says, Fight the good fight of faith.
Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now at first glance, when we look at these verses, verses 11 through 14, it can feel a little bit overwhelming.
I don't know about you, but when I read passages in the Bible that have lists of exhortations and things to do and things to hold and things to keep, sometimes I can feel overwhelmed. That's a lot of stuff I have to do, Lord. We feel the push of all these exhortations, especially for those who are spiritually struggling.
In many cases, it's like, Lord, I barely got up this morning, and I have to pursue righteousness and godliness, and all this talk about fleeing and pursuing and fighting and taking and keeping, it feels impossible. Of course, we know that we do not do this in our own strength. And that's the trap, is when you feel like these are things you have to do, commands you have to keep, laws you have to observe, it can be crushing.
And yet Philippians 2.13 tells us that the effort that we put forward in sanctification is actually the work of God working within us. And he says, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. This is not something that we have to work up a sweat to produce inside of ourselves.
This is a work that God is doing through the ministry of his Spirit. He is bringing you along. And beloved, there are times when you are actually growing, and you don't even realize that you're growing.
Now I'm not commending to you a lazy faith. But I'm saying to you that this is not a matter of beating yourself up until you get more godly. It's quite the opposite.
It's the Spirit of God striving within you, with you, to conform you to the image of Jesus Christ. And yet we are still encouraged to move forward, and we're encouraged and exhorted to press on all the way to the end. And he writes at the end of verse 14, how long do we have to persevere in this? He says, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
See, for all of the Christian life, it finds its culmination, its end, its completion, at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Well, how so? Well, if believers are in Christ, then the realization of Christ at the second coming will also be our realization and glorification with him. Or as Colossians 3, 4 says, when Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
Let me put it another way. Whether it's at death, when you pass away in this life and go home to be with them, or his arrival on earth, the day which we don't know when it's going to be, whether it's death or his return, the moment you see him, mark this, the moment you see him, you will realize in that moment that the struggle is over. That righteousness has won.
That eternal life is beginning. And that Jesus Christ has taken the seat of sovereign rule over all creation forever and ever. Amen.
You're going to see him on that day. You're going to realize all of it. Of course, we see that Christ is already King.
Yes. But the final appearing of Christ, it ushers in the end of all things. The final reconciliation of all things.
The final culmination. And the final judgment. It all comes to an end.
We feel like there's all these loose ends. We just feel like we always have to be binding these things up and keeping control and gathering everything in. And it feels like, oh Lord, I don't know if I can do this.
He's got it. And he will bring all things to completion. And Paul uses this word here in the verse, epiphaneia.
We know the word epiphany. It's the same word, epiphaneia in the Greek. It's a different word than other Greek words for appearing, but it's the same event here.
Remember, back in Matthew 24, we were there quite a while ago here, but Matthew 24, at the Olivet Discourse, Jesus describes this event. This appearing. And Jesus says, for just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
And then he continues, but immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And so the unbelieving world will mourn, but we will rejoice with a sound of rejoicing that you have never heard before.
He's coming again, beloved. This is what motivates us and propels us along by beholding the future coming and by beholding Christ, we become more like Him. In fact, that's what Paul was longing for in 2 Timothy 4.80. He says, I have fought the good fight.
I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. You can hear the years that Paul has been languishing in ministry and in life and in persecution.
And then he adds this, in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day. And then he says this, and not only to me, but to all who have loved His appearing. It's not just for the super elite so-called apostles.
There's no such thing. Paul says this is for everyone, every believer, all who have longed for His appearing. See, we don't work hard in the Christian life to attain earthly rewards.
If this is your best life now, then this is the best life you'll ever have. But if you're seeking righteousness in Christ and a life for the future, this life is transient. And your best life is to come in Christ.
And so therefore, we pursue godliness because we long to see Christ. I want to see Him. I love His appearing.
And even though we haven't experienced it yet, I haven't seen His appearing yet, but by faith, by faith, we already love His appearing. It's almost as if in your mind's eye you can see it. You read the Word of God, these ancient words that we sung about.
You read this love letter from God, and He tells you about the day. He's already been there. He's already living there.
And He tells us what it's going to be like. And it's wonderful. And so what follows here in 1 Timothy 6, 15, and 16 is this marvelous doxology that Paul gives to the church.
And it teaches us about the Lord. It encourages us in our faith. And it gives us cause to worship here.
And what follows here is no less than six key truths about the attributes of God. Who He is. How He's able to sustain us into the end.
And what this end is going to be. Because again, if we're longing for His appearing, if we love His appearing, we want to see Him as He is. And so Paul is going to give us just a little tiny pinhole window into the glory and majesty and preeminence of God in these verses.
And so we're going to look at six things today from these verses. And we're just going to follow along. You're going to see these are just really attributes or characteristics of who God is.
But first we're going to see the providence of God. Number one, the providence of God. Paul notes here that the long-awaited appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ will be brought about, Paul says, at the proper time.
At the proper time. More specifically, he says, He will bring it about at the proper time. Now, in the next two verses, we could very easily get lost in the nuance of trying to figure out which member of the Trinity is being referred to here.
Are these verses referring to the Father? Is this the Son? Are there elements of these verses that are applied to the Spirit? And then we could do the theological work and say, well, we believe in one God who exists eternally in three distinct persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That each of them is fully and truly God, possessing all divine attributes. So we could play these kinds of theological games.
They're not really games, but we could do the theology. But the truth is, is that these things are applied to the person of God as we know Him. And yet, generally speaking, the He in verse 15 is God the Father.
And we're going to talk about why. How do we know this? Well, Scripture often attributes the divine timetable to the will of the Father. It's not that the Spirit and the Son have nothing to do with it, but generally speaking, the Bible talks about this divine plan, this divine timetable, the providence belonging to the will of the Father.
And we know that even Jesus attributes this to the will of the Father as well. And interestingly enough, when the disciples in Acts 1-6 ask Jesus about the timing of His kingdom and the subsequent return, He responds by saying, it is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority. So Jesus is taking all the divine timetable and He says, that's the Father's, even though we know that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Him.
So yes, He possesses that, but He, again, He attributes that to the Father. And so the Father ordains all things, even the return of Christ, by His own providential will. In fact, even the events of our own lives are decreed by God.
God is not just along for the ride, friends. He has ordained and decreed everything that's in your life. We saw this a couple weeks ago when we talked about the basis of contentment, the basis of contentment that, according to Philippians 4-19, that God is able to supply most of your needs.
No, He says every need. God is able to supply every need according to the riches in glory in Christ Jesus. But in doing so, He acts according to the wisdom of His divine will.
He doesn't just, He's not a cosmic genie. He doesn't just give us all the things that we want, irrespective of what He decrees. No, we pray to Him, but He answers our prayers according to His will.
And I've asked this question before, hypothetically, but would you ever want to pray for something that's not in His will? I hope not. Because that would be not a good thing to receive, right? And so we always pray, Lord, according to Your will, give whatever You see fit. But it's important to know that God ordains the means and the ends of all things, including the culmination of all things at the appearing of Christ Jesus.
The appearing of Christ Jesus, the appropriate time here, that's all working together, the proper time, that's working together for the providence of God. He will bring all things about, the NIV renders this, in His own time, at the proper time. And so all of this teaches us about the providence of God.
But then we see a second thing here. Number two, the blessedness of God. The blessedness of God.
Beginning in this very next phrase in verse 15, Paul launches into one of the most glorious doxologies in Scripture. There's a lot of doxologies in Scripture, but this is a wonderful one. And so I just want to look at this again with you, or read this with you.
Verses 15 and 16 here, the second half of verse 15. Paul says, He who is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
Now we see that there's a similar doxology back in chapter 1 verse 17. At the beginning of the letter, we saw a similar doxology, a little shorter, but it's very similar. It's almost like the commercial before the big event.
In verse 17, Paul begins the letter with, Now to the King eternally mortal and invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. And I love what William Hendrickson, he's a New Testament scholar, he's passed on to glory now, but Hendrickson makes an observation about these two doxologies at the beginning and at the end of Paul's letter here.
Hendrickson writes this, I love this. He says, The contemplation of the first coming of Christ led to doxology in chapter 1 verse 17. So also, the meditation upon the second coming would lead to a similar and expanded doxology in chapter 6 verses 15 and 16.
You see that? Whether we're talking about Christ coming in the first coming and dying on the cross and resurrecting, or we're talking about the second coming where He reigns in glory, both are worthy of doxology. And Paul gives us both. But the first thing in this doxology, he notes, is that God is blessed.
Blessed. Now, looking at the grammar here, I know all of you love grammar, right? But looking at the grammar here, we see these words, blessed and only. Blessed and only.
But those two words, blessed and only, they modify another word. They're referring to this word sovereign. And that's the focus of that part of the verse here, is that God is the sovereign.
But what qualifies Him as the sovereign, He is the blessed sovereign, the only sovereign. But He begins here that God is still blessed. This word in the Greek is makarios.
It means happy or content or fulfilled. We tend to think that we are the ones who are blessed by God. We remember the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus pronounces blessings on those who belong to God.
Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the humble. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
We are blessed in Him. And so we think about, we're the ones who receive the blessing. How is it that God is blessed? How is it that God is bestowed with divine favor or made happy in God? What does it mean that God is blessed? Well, I think it's very simply this.
That God is the embodiment of all blessing. We're not just blessed because we receive the blessing. He's blessed because He is the blessing.
You see that? He is happy in and of Himself. He possesses all material and spiritual blessing. He is self-fulfilled, utterly content.
God needs nothing. God is blessing. Well, how does this impact our thinking? Well, I think it's easy for us to think that all of our troubles and our needs are just simply too great.
I think we can convince ourselves that we're beyond help. We get into a trial or some kind of trouble, and even though intellectually in our minds we know that God is big, we know that God can do all things, we say things like that. Oh, God can do anything.
But then as soon as He presses on that nerve, the thing that's just beyond you, whether it's a health trial, whether it's a difficult relationship, whether it's financial woes, lack of a job, whatever it is, as soon as that trial comes, in the moment it feels like, I just don't think He can do it. Because we don't see it. We don't see how God could actually bless us and bring us through these things, and yet we have to remember that God is the embodiment, the incarnation of all divine blessing, and He is gracious to bless us.
That's not prosperity gospel. That's God loving His kids. He is the embodiment of all blessedness, and therefore God is the blessed sovereign.
And then Paul follows that up by number three. The sovereignty of God. The sovereignty of God.
Here he's called the, that's the definite article there, the blessed and only sovereign. When you think about the person of God, what comes to mind? And it's interesting, because you could do a poll of all different believers and all people around the world, and what do you think about when you think about God? I think unbelievers, and sometimes even new believers, maybe they tend to think about God more as judge. Certainly unbelievers do.
They have a very negative view that God is only a judge, some kind of a cosmic killjoy. And I think even new believers who struggle with the guilt of their own sin just feel like, oh, I know I want to come to Christ, but God's just going to hang over me and threaten to kill me all the time. We struggle with the assurance of that.
Now don't get me wrong here, God is the judge. God will judge and has judged all things in righteousness. But maybe you also tend to think about God as being the loving God.
Certainly those who love their sin only ever see God as loving, but we can see God as a loving Father. He is a loving Father. And so there are these truths about who He is, but it's not this one thing isn't all there is to Him.
There is a lot to Him. And yet what does Paul focus on here in the context? Verse 15, Paul focuses on God as the sovereign. As the sovereign.
He uses a word here, dunastis, sometimes translated as ruler. The Greek word that's used here is in the same family as the word dunamis, which means power. Now in a very real way, the sovereign is a possessor of power.
That's what a ruler is, a sovereign. But not just power or ability, but also the authority to use that power and ability. The freedom and right to exercise power, that's a sovereign.
And we can see in the next phrase, this sovereignty is demonstrated through these two key positions. When you think about what a sovereign would be, what do you think about? Well, Paul actually lists out two examples. We tend to think about kings and lords.
Now you could throw in there prime ministers and presidents and whatever else you want to add to that list, but generally speaking, kings and lords. And throughout the course of human history, we've had innumerable kings, innumerable lords, those who rule over anywhere between a tiny town or a small province, or those who rule a nation or even an empire. In the history of the world, we can point to certain kings who've been more notable than other kings.
You might think of ancient kings like Hammurabi or Ramses II or Alexander the Great. Maybe you think about biblical kings like David and Solomon and Hezekiah, Josiah. Maybe you think about the pagan kings like Sennacherib of Assyria or Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
In fact, Nebuchadnezzar was so powerful and feared that scripture records in Ezekiel 26.7 and Daniel 2.37 that he himself was called the king of kings. He toppled regimes and he dominated nations. And yet, scripture teaches that there is only one sovereign over all the rest.
Verse 15 uses the word manos. In the Greek, it's soul or only or alone. God is the only and ultimate sovereign.
And to further define what that means, he says he is the king of all kings and the Lord of all lords. That's who he is. In fact, way back in Deuteronomy 10.17 when Israel was preparing to take possession of the promised land, the Lord exhorted them to obey and not to stiffen their necks.
And then he says this. Moses writes, For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor does He take a bribe. Even back in Deuteronomy.
God of God. Lord of lords. The same designation is applied to Jesus Christ at His second coming.
As Christ rules as sovereign on the throne of David during the millennial kingdom, Revelation 17.14 sees the enemies of God warring against the Lamb and it says the Lamb will overcome them. Why? John writes, Because He is Lord of lords and King of kings. Even when He descends from heaven finally in Revelation 19, He has a name that is written on His thigh and on His robe.
And what is that name? King of kings and Lord of lords. And so, this displays His absolute sovereignty over all creation, all governments, all nations, all wicked schemes, all angelic realms, all earthly pestilence and disease. He's sovereign over all human effort, daily trials, personal sins, and even intimate situations.
Even the thoughts that battle in your own mind, God is sovereign over even those. He retains complete and utter sovereignty over everything. I don't know about you, but that comforts me in a huge way.
We're not just along for the ride. We're not hanging on by a thread. No, we are held and kept by the sovereignty of God.
Once you recognize that our God is the only sovereign, the ultimate sovereign, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, we can take heart. We can have peace. We can cease to worry.
As many of you know, I've written a book on anxiety and depression and all those different things. I've battled those personally as a believer for most of my life. And yet, what is the antidote to anxiety and worry and fear? It's an acknowledgement of the sovereignty of God.
The more that you see God for who He is as controller and sovereign and the providential ruler of all things, you can stop worrying. I think sometimes we get anxious because we have a deficiency in our understanding of who God is. But how is He able to be the only sovereign? Because that's a question we could ask, right? God is the only, the blessed and only sovereign.
How so? Well, that leads us, interestingly enough, to number four, the immortality of God. The immortality of God. Paul makes a staggeringly subtle statement here about God in verse 16.
He says that God alone possesses immortality. I love the understatements of Scripture. There's so much that is power-packed in these small words, but they mean such great things.
For the second time in this little section here, the Greek word manos alone only is used. It refers not just to the ultimate sovereignty of God, but also to His immortality. And this word here that's used is not the normal word for immortality in the New Testament.
It's actually the word athanasia. Athanasia. And what does this word mean? Well, quite literally, this word means deathlessness.
It lacks the ability to die. Deathlessness. In other words, God cannot die, will not die, and has no threat of death.
Well, why? Well, think about this with me. Because death is God's punishment for sin. That's what it is.
As soon as Adam and Eve rebelled against God in the garden, death was the punishment. Not just physical death, but the potential of eternal spiritual death as well. And even now, death exists as a part of the fall, as a curse of the fall.
We all die because of the curse of the fall. And yet God Himself is not under that curse. At all.
Furthermore, He has no involvement with the sin that necessitated it. Instead, God is pure being. Pure righteousness.
He is the embodiment of life itself. Which makes the incarnation and the death and the resurrection of Jesus so remarkable. Consider this.
Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ is God and therefore possesses the complete attributes of God, which includes immortality. Jesus Christ is eternal and immortal. Read John 1, you'll see it.
He's from ever past, forever future, He is. And yet, in order for Christ to stand in Adam's place and in our place and to redeem what was lost at the fall, He had to take on a human body. One that was able to die.
So that even though He is not under the curse of sin as God, Jesus subjected Himself to the mortality of humanity and Galatians 3.13 says, became a curse for us. This is marvelous and mysterious and frankly mind-blowing that an infinite, immortal being would voluntarily subject Himself to the rigors and the pains and the entrapments of humanity, then Himself submit Himself to death and suffering and pain in order to redeem and then come alive again. These are just some of the mysteries of the incarnation.
But this is what He did. And even after He died on the cross for our sins, three days later, He proved His deity. He reproved His deathlessness by resurrecting to life again.
And then Romans 6.8 says, never did I again. I don't even know if I can talk right now. That God would do this and subject Himself to this for us.
What are we? And yet behold the magnanimous love of God. Now you know why Paul likes doxology. Now you know why he's always praising God for His immeasurable grace.
And yet, we acknowledge that death possesses no lordship over Christ because He again Himself is the Lord of lords. Marvelous. And that leads us then to number five.
The holiness of God. The holiness of God. In addition to possessing immortality and alone possessing immortality, Paul adds that God also dwells in unapproachable light.
The Bible frequently uses metaphorical language. And light is often times a symbol of things like goodness and truth and righteousness and purity and holiness. Of course you recognize that the visible light of God's Shekinah glory was displayed in Israel.
In fact, when Moses goes up on the mountain he beholds just a minuscule fragment of the divine glory of God. He barely could see it. When he came down off the mountain his face was so radiated by the refracted glory of God he had to cover it with a veil.
This is just amazing stuff here. And so yes, there is a visible light that we behold in His glory. Yet the notion of God dwelling in unapproachable light goes even beyond that.
It goes beyond even just the unapproachable light of the glory cloud around Sinai. But now it even goes to God's transcendence. He dwells in unapproachable light.
In other words, we can't get to that light. Psalm 104 declares this. Bless the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord my God, You are very great. You are clothed with splendor and majesty. Listen to this.
Covering Yourself with light as with a cloak. Stretching out heaven like a tent curtain. God reigns supreme on the throne of heaven wrapping Himself in the Shekinah glory.
The light that is beyond all light. This light is so majestic, so glorious, so magnificent. And yet we also can concede too that it's also the light of purity and of holiness.
Well, how do we get to there? Well, 1 John 1.5 says that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. And in the context of 1 John 1, darkness is sin and deceit and wickedness. And it says that in God there is none of that.
There's no darkness. He is all light. And in the majesty and the purity of who He is, we also behold again that holiness.
Holy means to be set apart and different and other. It also means to be pure. It also means to be transcendent.
God is completely different and other and wonderful. That's why Paul adds, who no man has seen or can see. It's not just that God is spirit and therefore invisible.
Rather, it's that no one can see God because He's too holy for our sinful eyes to behold. If you tried to look into His face, you wouldn't survive. No more that standing next to the sun you wouldn't survive standing next to the sun.
And that's a created ball of gas. You couldn't stand before the holiness of God and live. Amazingly again, that's why we need Jesus.
Because speaking of Christ in John 1, verse 4 says that in Him, in Christ, the word, in Him was life and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. And you take it together with verses 9 and 10, Jesus Himself is called the light.
John 8, 12, Jesus says, I am the light of the world. But part of His role as divine light is to reveal what cannot be seen. John 1, 18, no man has seen God at any time.
Right? That's what Paul says. God dwells in unapproachable light and no man has seen Him or can see Him. That's what Paul's saying.
But then John, in his chapter there, adds the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, that's Jesus, He has explained Him. Jesus is the visible, approachable representation of the invisible, unapproachable God to us. It's through Jesus that we can apprehend God.
It's through Jesus that we can have access to God. That's why when Philip said to Jesus, Show us the Father and it is enough for us. Jesus replies to him in John 14, 9, If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father.
Jesus came to make the Father known to us. He came to reveal God to us. And without altering or diminishing God's holiness, the Son again lowers Himself into humanity and condescends to meet us where we are so that we might get a glimpse of who He is.
And even when we get the very smallest vision of God, there is only one way to respond. Number six, the praise of God. The praise of God.
Paul concludes with this very brief word of doxology, To Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. For the fourth time in this letter, Paul mentions this Greek word time, which is translated as honor.
Now in other places, it talks about respect and even financial remuneration and esteem and things like that. But in the context of doxology, chapter 1, verse 17, and also here, it refers to the reverence that we owe to God. He is deserving of all honor.
It's due Him. You think about Psalm 29, ascribed to the Lord, the glory that's due His name. We owe Him honor.
We owe Him glory. After all, He is the only sovereign. The King of kings.
The Lord of lords. And He is the rightful recipient of our honor, respect, and reverence. But He also possesses eternal dominion.
Kratos in the Greek means power or might. But it can also be nuanced a little more when used in the context of sovereignty here. It's power that is possessed by a sovereign.
And that's why translators render this as dominion. Dominion is the power displayed by the sovereign. It's the realm of their power.
That's dominion. And God rightfully possesses all of that powerful dominion. And as believers, we acknowledge that and we rightly praise God for that.
But what is so amazing, again, in 1 John 3 verse 2, He says, Beloved, now we are children of God. I'm talking to all believers. All of us.
We are children of God. And it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when He appears, we shall be like Him because we shall see Him just as He is.
It brings it all together, doesn't it? See, one day, because of our salvation in Christ, we're going to see Him face to face. See, right now, we only behold Christ by faith. We don't see Him visibly yet.
We behold Him through His Word, by His Spirit. We behold Him by faith. But there's going to come a day, friends, when you're not going to need your faith anymore.
Why? Because you're going to see Him as clear as day. What was once by faith will be by sight. You'll behold Him.
You'll see Him as He is. And once you see Him as He is, 1 Corinthians 15.53 says that our perishable bodies will then become imperishable. And this mortal body will put on immortality.
Our old, dead, rotting flesh will finally be gone. And all the sinful impulses in it, all of our infirmities, all of our shortcomings, everything we have that is not redeemed and glorified will fall away, and we will receive a new body that is like His. We won't be God's, but we will be belonging to Him.
We will be His possession in Heaven and we'll be like Him in that way. He is imperishable and immortal. We will also be imperishable and immortal.
And one day, sin and death will be gone. And we will be at home with our blessed and only Sovereign. What a day that's going to be.
And I'll tell you, it's coming sooner than we think. That's not some earthly prediction. I'm just saying that life is so fleeting.
And before you know it, the 70, 80, 90, 100 years that you have, it goes by like a blink, and then you see Him. And then your soul finds the fulfillment that it has been longing for. Everything you've been learning and studying and reading and praying about and hoping in, one day your faith will be sight and you will see Him as He is.
Glorified. And your heart will explode in your chest out of excitement and joy. And you'll know that you're home.
And you'll be like Him. He will transform you. And you will dwell with Him forever in this unapproachable light and glory.
And you will also be blessed with Him. But this promise extends to those who come to Him by faith. This is not automatic for every single human being who's ever existed.
No, we have to come to Him by faith. Jesus Christ died on the cross. He condescended.
He came down. He subjected Himself to pain, torture, death to pay for His sins. He was buried and He rose again the third day.
And the Gospel tells us that all who repent of sin and trust in Jesus Christ, we will have eternal life. For the believer, eternal life begins the moment you believe. As soon as you receive a new heart and a new spirit, you have life that will never end.
Yeah, your body will pass away. But God's Word and your faith will never pass away. Because you'll be with Him forever.
What a marvelous text this is. Amen? We get to study the Word and the person. The revelation of God.
What a great way to celebrate the Lord's Day today. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we honor You.
We praise You for Your glory. We thank You for who You are. For the wonder, for the majesty of who You are.
And Lord, I'm just reminded of this doxology even from chapter 11 where we read all the depths and the riches of both the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are Your judgments and unfathomable Your ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has become Your counselor? For who has first given to You that we might be paid back again? Lord, the Bible says, from You and through You and to You are all things.
To You be the glory forever. Lord, we reach out to You by faith and we thank You for the blessing we have in Christ. And Lord, I pray if there's any here who don't yet know You, that today would be the day of their salvation.
They would stop running from You. They would stop stiffening their necks and looking for some other Savior. And they would bow the knee and they would submit themselves to the blessed and only Sovereign.
They would believe on Jesus Christ and have life. And so that we pray to You because all glory belongs to You. In Jesus' name.