Issue 1281 – Eye of God – October 25, 2023
This famous image of the Helix Nebula circulated widely a few years ago, typically being labelled as the “Eye of God” or sometimes as “Sauron’s Eye.”
According to one source
“The Eye of God nebula is a bright planetary nebula located about 700 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius; it’s also known as NGC 7293. In fact, the Helix Nebula is probably the closest planetary nebula we can see in the sky, and it shows the future that stars like our Sun go through when they run out of fuel and puff out their outer layers. It’s thought that the Helix Nebula is actually cylindrical shaped. From our perspective, we’re looking down the cylinder to see the central star. Astronomers estimate that the Helix Nebula is about 10,600 years old, based on the rate of expansion of the nebula.”
It is a fantastic photograph that has caused many people to stop and ponder the existence and nature of God. People wondered where did God come from and who created Him?
That’s an essential pair of questions. The answer goes a long way to defining who God is.
The Lord makes the claim to eternal existence.
God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ Exodus 3:14
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” John 8:58
God is eternally existence, the uncreated cause of everything else.
One theologian explains the nature of the Lord’s existence this way,
“The aseity of God is His attribute of independent self-existence. God is the uncaused Cause, the uncreated Creator. He is the source of all things, the One who originated everything and who sustains everything that exists. The aseity of God means that He is the One in whom all other things find their source, existence, and continuance. He is the ever-present Power that sustains all life. There is no other source of life and none other like Him: “For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me””
The aseity of God is a crucial doctrine of the Christian faith. His creator must be the true God.
If we define God as being the ultimate cause of and power over everything, then a created God cannot be God by definition.
Where did God come from? He has always been. Before anything else was created, there was God. Who created God? He is eternally self-existent.
To deny those foundational truths in any way is to deny the God of the Bible. There are groups out there that use the same Scriptures we do but claim God was a created being or a man who somehow became God. Such groups cannot be Christian by definition, no matter what terms they use.
He is the eternal, unchanging I Am. He is the I was, and the I will be.
We can rest in the very nature of God.
Praise His holy name and unchanging, self-existent nature.
Hallelu Yah / Praise God
Kevin
Gleanings From The Word
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Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)
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All contents, “Gleanings From The Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2023 KF “Kevin” Corbin Gleanings From The Word.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is from the English Standard Version (ESV).
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