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 It
is not surprising that the true God would be as a stranger to
pagan nations in times past. Recall that to certain Athenians
the apostle Paul was one who seemed to be a "setter forth
of strange Gods". To them, his proclamation of God's word
was as a strange thing to their ears (Acts 17: 18, 20).
What
we would not expect, however, is that some 2,000 years later,
God and His word could be as comparative strangers to many in
our "Christian" nation and Bible-saturated society!
Not that most do not hold certain illusions and concepts of God,
for such are as numerous as the idols of ancient Athens — and
just as false. But, God is as He is, and not as men may conceive
Him to be. Many claim to believe on God; to believe that He
"is" (Heb. 11:6), yet know little of His true nature.
And, in the absence of such knowledge, it is conveniently easy
to "whittle" out a concept with the imagination.
Thus,
we find ourselves in the land of many "strange" gods.
In our modern Athens we hear of a fiendish and cruel kind of god
who robs us of our loved ones. We hear of a dead god; or an
indulgent, grandfatherly-type who condones most any kind of
conduct. Some speak of a god who honors good intentions and
sincerity even above obedience to His own will and others speak
of a god who would never allow even the wicked to be punished
eternally. Some claim to serve a god who enables them to speak
in tongues and heal the sick. Many claim allegiance to a god
whose revelations are not confined to the Bible. It is not
surprising that such groups would find the message of
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their god at variance with those
given by other gods. Yes, strange gods are a way of life in our
religious world. The fact that the imagined gods do not take the
form of graven images doesn't really change anything. The man
who conceives of a god who differs from the true God is himself
little different from the pagan idolater of old. Paul saw the
need for setting forth the nature of the true God. That remedy
is no less needful in our times of sophisticated idolatry.
Soul
saving faith begins with a knowledge of the true nature of God
— a thing we often take for granted, especially in our
teaching and preaching. If you think about it, practically
everything relates to our view of God. That view, of course,
must be determined by the Scriptures for all we can hope to know
of the true God is revealed therein. Obviously, perverted
concepts of God will persist among the uninformed and the
misinformed. To them, incredible as it seems, the God of the
Bible will remain a stranger and His word will seem a strange
thing to their ears. Where God is stranger so is His love and
man's imitation of it (1 Jn. 4:7-11); so is His goodness and the
repentance it produces (Rom. 2:4). Where God is stranger so is
His power and sovereignty. His right to rule, His authority, and
His will avail little with those who serve illusions. Where God
is stranger, so will His people be. The world will think it
strange that His people run not with the — so will many in the
religious world. Let's help them to know the Father. Dan S.
Shipley
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