The Spirituality of the Divine Nature.
xxxi. 3. The Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit.
Among the sins to which the ancient Israelites were addicted, one of the most prevailing was a disposition, in seasons of invasion or calamity, to place confidence in the power of surrounding nations, and to seek the assistance of their sovereigns, instead of trusting in the living God. Egypt, being the largest monarchy in their immediate neighbourhood, was frequently their refuge in times of distress and difficulty. Remonstrance (vers. 1, 2).
In the text an important and infinite disparity between God and man, which rendered the Egyptian monarch infinitely inferior to Him in the qualities which entitle to confidence and trust. The spirituality of the Supreme Being is the contrast.
I. The spirituality of the Deity is intimately connected with the possession of that infinite, unlimited power which renders Him the proper object of entire confidence.
There is a prejudice in favour of matter and against spirit, as if the former were possessed of greater force than the latter. It arises from our mistaking secondary and remote effects for causes, instead of ascending to God the supreme cause. Thus we think of the elements of nature and of mechanical forces. We have no power of operating on the objects immediately around us but by means of our bodies. But it is mind alone which is the seat of power. The power by which all changes are effected through the instrumentality of the body resides immediately in the mind. It is that mysterious principle called Will. Whatever motions the mind wills instantly take place. This is an illustration of the control which the Deity exercises over the universe. The Divine Being has only to will the most important changes and they are instantly accomplished. It is impossible to give any account of innumerable changes continually taking place in the visible world, without tracing them up to mind.
II. The spirituality of God stands in close and intimate connection with His Invisibility.
1 Tim. vi. 15, 16. Were He the object of sight, He must be limited. He cannot, therefore, be figured out by any art or skill of man (Acts xvii. 24–29; Deut. iv. 15; Ex. xx. 4, 5). Hence the great impiety of those who have attempted to paint and figure out the persons of the Trinity. The necessary effect of any attempt to represent the Deity to the human senses, by pictures or images, must be to degrade, to an incalculable degree, our conception of Him. Hence images of angels, the Virgin Mary, and saints of inferior character.
III. The spirituality of God is inseparably connected with His Immensity and Omnipresence (Jer. xxiii. 23, 24; Ps. cxxxix. 7–12).
1. It is necessary that matter should have some figure. But figure is circumscribed within a certain outline. To conceive of the Divine Being as material would involve absurdity. 2. If matter were unlimited there would be no possibility of motion. 3. If the Divine Being were material, He would render impossible the co-existence of created beings. Two portions of matter cannot occupy the same space. But the infinite Spirit is present with every part of His creation.
IV. The spirituality of God enables His infinite Wisdom.
This seems a necessary property of that Being who is present to all His creatures at all times. His infinite acquaintance with His creatures is a necessary consequence of His presence. Every one is as much within His survey at one moment as at another. We judge of men’s character by their actions, He by their motives. And His judgment is always according to truth.
V. The spirituality of God establishes an intimate relation between Him and all His intelligent creatures.
Their dependence on Him is absolute; their subjection to Him constant and incessant; but in a special manner is He the Father of spirits. The body has a tendency to separate us from God, by the dissimilarity of its nature; the soul unites us to Him by those principles and faculties which are congenial to His own. To estrange ourselves from God is to be guilty of a most enormous kind of offence: it is forgetting our proper parent, the author of our existence. To love him, to seek union with Him, is to return to our proper original.
VI. The spirituality of God renders Him capable of being the satisfying Portion, the Supreme Good, of all intelligent beings.
He is the source and spring of all happiness (Lam. iii. 24, 25; Ps. lxxiii. 25, 26). 1. That which constitutes the felicity of the mind must be something out of it. Whoever retires into his own mind for happiness will be miserable. God is qualified to be the everlasting and inexhaustible spring of happiness. 2. He who can always confer happiness on another being must be superior to that being. To be the source of happiness is the prerogative of God. 3. That in which the happiness of a rational and mental creature consists, must be congenial to the nature of that creature. 4. That which forms the principle of our felicity must be something that is capable of communicating itself to us. God, as He is a Spirit, is capable of communicating Himself to the spirits of His rational creatures. These communications will constitute the felicity of heaven. Even while they continue on earth, it is the privilege of the faithful to enjoy union with the Father of spirits through His Son.
Improvement. 1. Let us raise ourselves, in contemplating the Divine Being, above what is sensible, visible, and corporeal. 2. Since God is a Spirit, there must be an everlasting connection established between Him and us, on which will depend our destiny for ever. Hence Jesus Christ has come. What movements are in your minds toward this great object?—Robert Hall: Works, vol. vi., pages 1–32.