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THE CHARACTER OF GOD

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 30, 1901

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 18.

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THE CHARACTER OF GOD

By C. P. Whitford

C. P. WHITFORD
In the very beginning, Satan began the work of deception (Gen. 3:1-5), by misrepresenting the character of God, and it has been his studied plan to keep the people in ignorance in regard to the Lord’s true character.
To know God as He really is, is to love Him (Job 22:21), and those who truly love Him will keep His commandments (1 John 5:3), and those who keep His commandments will “have right to the tree of life.” Rev. 22:14.
The Lord has decreed that Satan shall be destroyed (Eze. 28:11-19); and so, true to the saying that “misery likes company,” he is set on leading to destruction as many as it is possible for him to deceive.
Satan would have us believe that God is a cruel master, who delights in punishing his creatures when they do not obey Him. In the garden of Eden he succeeded in causing Eve to believe that God was supremely selfish in withholding from her fruit of which, should she partake, she would be elevated in knowledge and wisdom. She was led to believe that God was not the kind, loving, and true friend that He had represented himself to be, but was, instead, arbitrary and exacting in all His requirements; and all the world has shared more or less in this belief, the sad results of which are told in Rom. 3:10-19, 23; 5:12.
All the discouragement in trying to live in harmony with the counsel of the Lord is based on the thought that God loves us less than we thought He did.
Before man can retrace his steps, and cheerfully accept and follow the instructions given by God, lost confidence must be restored; for “without faith it is impossible to please Him.” Man must become so well acquainted with God that he can say in his heart, “No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly before Him.”
How, then, shall we become acquainted with God, so that lost confidence can be restored? The Saviour has told us to “search the Scriptures; for . . . they are they which testify of me.” God’splan by which we may become acquainted with Him is fully explained in His word.
God sent His Son into the world to live His life among men for thirty-three years. 2 Cor. 5:19. A careful study of the life of Christ will enable us to become well acquainted with God. As we search the Scriptures we read: “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45. Christ did not come to this world to be waited upon, but He gave His life in active, loving service for others. This life which He lived, represents the life and character of God.
“God is love” (1 John 4:8), and love “seeketh not her own.” 1 Cor. 13:4, 5. It is selfishness that seeks its own, and selfishness is of Satan. Isa. 14:12-14. Selfishness is sin, and “sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” Christ saw our helpless condition, and without any invitation from us, came into this world to save that which was lost.
“Thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.” “Sin is the transgression of the law.” Therefore He came to save us from transgressing the holy law of God.
Sin is bondage. We have all sinned, therefore we have all been in prison. Christ came to “proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” Isa. 61:1. The purchase price for the salvation of every individual has been paid. John 3:16. To make this plain, we will suppose that in the State of Florida it is a crime to contract a debt of more than one thousand dollars. A party of twelve are traveling through the country, and one of the number contracts a debt of two thousand dollars. For the crime he is arrested and tried, and sentenced to prison until the debt shall be paid. Suppose the other members of the party pay their friend’s indebtedness, and he is notified that his account is settled, and he is at liberty. But suppose he refuses to come out of the prison, remaining there until he dies. Would his death in prison prove that his liberty had not been secured to him?—Most assuredly it would not. The man was free, but would not make use of the freedom that was his by right.
Christ “gave himself for us.” “He gave himself for our sins.” We, with all our sins, belong to Him. Gal. 1:4; 1 Cor. 6:19, 20. We have all been in the prison-house of sin. Eph. 2:1-10.
Some have gladly accepted the freedom purchased for them by Christ. The purchase price was paid just as freely for those who will not accept salvation as for those who will. To illustrate: A table is spread with a bountiful supply of food, and all are invited to partake. Isa. 55:1; Rev. 22:17. Whose fault will it be if some go away hungry? To all who will accept it, the Saviour has promised a beautiful home (John 14:1-3; Rev. 21:1-4), and an endless life therein. Ps. 37:29. Who will enjoy that home? “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates into the city.” Rev. 22:14.
God is love. And love seeks the happiness of the object loved. God gave to man this world in its beauty, unmarred by sin. Love gave a holy law, a transcript of God’s character. It was a law of love, given in love and by love, to promote the happiness of those for whom it was given. When man departed from this law of love, thus bringing himself into bondage to sin and death, love gave earth’s Creator, heaven’s best gift, the eternal Son of God, to die, that man might live. Surely God’s love should awaken responsive love in the heart of every son and daughter of Adam.
The earth speaks of the goodness and love of man’s Creator. Leafy tree, fragrant flower, dewy grass, balmy air, fragrant with sweet perfume,—all speak of God’s love for man.
In the beginning man was made “very good,” and placed in a beautiful garden, with a right to all its privileges and blessings. This was his home. It knew no death, no curse, no woe, no sorrow, till sin, which is not of love, entered and blasted the fair domain of the children of God.
Before that time man could read the love of God on leaf and flower and blade of grass, on tree and lake and cloud and sky; and even now, despite the curse, the beautiful things of nature look through the fog and miasma of sin, and tell of love, the wondrous love of God. The love that gave Christ is the love that gives all things. Rom. 8:32. It has already given all things in Him. Surely—
“Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my life, my soul, my all.”