Transcendent
God is Transcendent.He is above.
-Above our understanding and our imagination.
-Above the limitations of our material world.
-Above all created things.
-Above time and space.
He is eternal, holy, just, powerful and good.
He is love.
And He embodies all these qualities more fully than you and I can articulate or even understand.
We can't control, domesticate or limit Him.
He is more than we can think.
More than we can imagine.
Scientists tell us that the universe with all its galaxies and systems still seem to be moving outward from a central point which they call the "big bang," but I think was when God said "Let there be light!" If God has always been, and the universe has not, then, in essence, God made space within Himself to create the world - Just like a mom makes space within herself to form a child. If God contains the universe within Himself, then we are talking about a Being who truly is unfathomable!
In high school Brenda was once asked to participate in a debate about the existence of God. She went to see her minister, Alan Maker, and asked him to help her explain that God exists. Alan floored her when he said "but God doesn't exist... at least not in the way we do... He exists at a level that is way beyond our usual definitions of existence - we can't experience God as we experience people and things in our existence."
When we relate to God, it is always an "I - Thou" relationship.
We don't relate to God like a buddy or a kindly grandparent.
He is awesome, majestic, unfathomable and indescribable: Transcendent.
The incredible thing about this transcendent God is that when we couldn't come to Him, He sent His Son to descend into our humanity and show us what God is like. He, the eternal and transcendent one, even submitted Himself to death, so that we could come to Him. And as He died, the temple curtain that kept people separate from God tore, from TOP to bottom. John says "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known." (John1:18) The Transcendent, became the Incarnate and through the Holy Spirit became Immanent (more on that later)
Sunday worship is partly about hearing God's Word, but we often over-emphasise that. We also get to lift our hearts and voices in songs and prayers of praise and adoration: "What an amazing and awe-worthy God we serve!"
| The LORD is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? (Psalms113:4-6) |
