GOD’S WORD FOR MAY 31

GOD’S WORD FOR MAY 31 ~ ~ Psalm 97:6 ~ ~ “The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory.”

Continuing excerpts from John Piper’s book, “The Pleasures of God” Chapter three

The bible says that both the Father and the Son were active in the work of creation (along with the Holy Spirit) The Father had not wearied of the Son and decided to create another enjoyment.

1 Corinthians 8:6 ~ ~ “For us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”

Colossians 1:16 ~ ~ “By Him (Christ) all things were created.”

Hebrews 1:2 ~ ~ “In these last days He (God) has spoken to us by His son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through who also He created the world.”

John 1:1-3 ~ ~ “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the word was God. All things were made through Him and without Him was not anything made that was made.”

In other words, the work of creation is not merely the work of the Father, as though He had to satisfy a need that the Son couldn’t meet, nor was creation merely the work of the son as though He had t satisfy some need that the Father couldn’t meet. Instead it was the work of both of them together. And the impulse was not deficiency of delight but a spilling over of mutual joy.

Jonathon Edwards expresses it like this:

“Surely it is no argument of the emptiness or deficiency of a fountain, that it is inclined to overflow.” If someone should ask whether God was less happy before the Father and Son released their joyful creative energy, Edwards answers,

“Though these communications of God (in creation)—these exercises, operations, and expressions of His glorious perfections, which God rejoices in—are in time; yet His joy in them is without beginning or change. They were ALWAYS PRESENT in the divine mind.”

So when the Bible teaches that creation expresses the glory of God, we must not think merely of the glory of the Father or the glory of the Son, but rather the glory that they have together, and the glory that they have together is that overflowing mutual joy in each other’s perfections.

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