“Let Freedom Ring”, we cry out here in America. We love discussing freedom and having freedom. One of the biggest celebrations of the year is when we commemorate that day when we declared independence from Great Britain. Our forefathers told King George boldly and loudly that they would be free from his reign or the reign of any other king. We would be independent.
But this kind of independence, though it does help as a starting point for our understanding, really does not compare to the independence of God. Even though now we are totally free from the rule of another country, if we were attacked this independence could be lost. And, there is a real sense in which there is not a single person in this great country that can exist totally independent of other people. The person who locks their self away from all of the word still goes to the grocery store to buy food from other people…or seeds from other people to grow their own food.
In the last post, I discussed God’s being both incomprehensible to us as humans while at the same time we can know much about Him because He has revealed Himself to us. I thought it might be fun to follow this up with a few of the attributes (characteristics) of God given to us in the Scriptures.
I will begin by talking about God’s Asceity, Solitariness, or as we will call it here Independence. God describes Himself this way when he called Himself “I AM” (Exodus 3:14). He is the self-existent One, without the need of anyone or anything else.
God is totally and completely independent. He is not in need of anyone or anything else in all of Creation. And this can be proven by looking at three things that Scripture teaches. God existed without anyone or anything else for a long time and He did so happily. The reason for Creation was not that He needed anyone or anything else. And lastly, God doesn’t need us but graciously reveals Himself to us.
God Existed Happily With No One Or Nothing Else For A Long Time
A question that is fun to ponder is this: When did time begin?
To answer this question one must answer another question. What is time? From here we can move on and discuss when time began.
Time, as we know it, is the measurement of the rotation of the Earth. The digits on your phone, or hanging on your wall is actually a measurement of this rotation. This makes our calendars a measurement of how many of those rotations have occurred.
Now, ask the question. When did time begin?
Well, time began when Earth began.
And what existed before time begain? God.
What was God’s existence like before time began? Well, God was there and He was as He is now.
A.W. Pink describes it this way,
“In the beginning, God” (Gen.1:1). There was a time, if “time” it could be called, when God, in the unity of His nature (though subsisting equally in three Divine Persons), dwelt all alone. “In the beginning, God.” There was no heaven, where His glory is now particularly manifested. There was no Earth to engage His attention. There were no angels to hymn His praises; no universe to be upheld by the word of His power. There was nothing, no one, but God; and that, not for a day, a year, or an age, but “from everlasting.” During a past eternity, God was alone: self-contained, self-sufficient, self-satisfied; in need of nothing. Had a universe, had angels, had human beings been necessary to Him in any way, they also had been called into existence from all eternity. The creating of them when He did, added nothing to God essentially. He changes not (Mal. 3:6), therefore His essential glory can be neither augmented nor diminished. – Arthur W. Pink, The Attributes of God, 1975, p. 10
God created all things. And before creation, He existed happily, as He exists now. This is how God always has been and always will be (Mal. 3:6). God who changes not was happy in Himself from all eternity. Then He decided to create.
God Didn’t Create Because He Needed Anyone Or Anything
It has been proposed that God created out of a need in Himself to have people to love. Yet, this is not what we find in Scripture. In Scripture we find that the reverse is true, all things live dependent upon God while God is independent of all of creation.
Paul said as much as he was preaching at the Areopagus in Acts 17.
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” – Acts 17:24-25 ESV
God has life in Himself (John 5:26) and this means that both physical and spiritual life is found only in Him and this is not a two-way street. God is self-existent. He is “I AM”. He is not in need of any part of His creation.
God Doesn’t Need Us But Graciously Reveals Himself To Us
This may sound a bit sad and harsh to consider. Yet, if we consider what this means then there is a picture of tremendous love and grace here.
God doesn’t need us. Yet, He has chosen to reveal Himself to us. There is no self-interest involved here, just grace. He chose to love His people. He chose to redeem a people for Himself through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son.
As Amazing As It Gets: God Didn’t Need Us But Chose To Love Us
The most amazing truth of all is that though God didn’t need us at all, yet He chose to save them through the sacrifice of His Son. We were dead in our trespasses and sins, children of wrath who deserved to pay the punishment for our rebellion against God and He set His love on His people. God the Son came to Earth lived a perfect life and died on a cross for our sin. He then rose from the dead three days later.
That is good news. And those who trust in Christ will be with Him for all eternity.
He doesn’t need us but He loves us.
R. Dwain Minor
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