THE LIVING GOD

THE LIVING GOD

“And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein.”  Acts 14:15

This passage records the argument of Paul and Barnabas to the pagan devotion to them following the healing of the crippled man in Lystra. In the course of the first missionary journey they came in flight from Iconium to Lystra. While preaching the gospel, they came upon a man who was crippled. He was born crippled, and apparently was now well along in years. To the people of the city, he was well known. He had become a sort of fixture, a land mark. He was in one of Paul's street meetings listening intently to the message. For some reason Paul was attracted to him and diagnosed him as a man who had faith to be healed. Paul commanded him to stand upon his feet, and the man leaped to his feet and walked. This produced an amazing effect upon the town's people. (Charismatic) They were now convinced that the gods had come down to them in the likeness of men, and they singled out Barnabas, the larger as Jupiter, while Paul they called Mercury, because he was the speaker and the smaller of the two. They were so profoundly moved by this conviction that they proceeded to do worship to them, bringing oxen and garlands to the gates of the city for sacrifice.

        This was too much for Paul and Barnabas. To have received such worship without protest would have been blasphemy. So they rent their clothes and ran in among the people, crying out in an effort to turn them from these pagan rites and set forth the truth.

Note carefully the words set over against each other. They are the words "vanities" and "living".

Two Greek words within the New Testament have been translated into English by the word vain. One means "empty" while the other means "accomplishing nothing". It is the second appearing in this passage. The apostles are therefore declaring that pagan gods are vanities in that they accomplish nothing, while the true God is one vino gets something done. The true God made the heavens and the earth and the sea; and He is the one Who healed this crippled man. Therefore we are to understand that in that God is living He is One Who has resident forces within him to accomplish something.

The Bible itself sets forth a method by which one may determine whether God is living. It was at the banks of the Jordan when that motley horde of Israelites, now under a new leader with the passing of Moses, was instructed on this point. "And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites" (Josh. 3:10). The impossible was about to take place. As soon as the feet of the priests touched the water's edge, that mighty stream at flood season suddenly stopped, and formed a mighty seething wall of water rising up higher and higher, while the waters below passed on down to the sea leaving a stretch of dry land. All day long while that multitude traveled on foot to cross Jordan those waters were stayed and continued to rise higher and higher, yet never advancing onward toward the people. With that sheer, watery cliff rising on their right, they passed over Jordan, each member witnessing to the fact that God is living and therefore able to accomplish things.

One thousand five hundred years later the ultimate proof was given to the entire world of the fact that God is living. This was done at the tomb in the garden outside the city wall. God in the person of His son died at Calvary and was buried. Three days passed. Women came early to anoint a dead body. To their amazement, they were met at the tomb by angels with an unthinkable message. They seemed surprised that mortals should neither know nor understand this fact. "Why seek ye the living among the dead?" More literally it may be rendered, "Why seek ye the living one among dead ones?" Why? Why? Why? Well, chiefly because they were not fully aware that God is the living God, and that God the Father was able to accomplish the impossible. He could raise up His Son. Chiefly because they were not aware that God the Son had life within Himself as the Father and therefore could raise up Himself. Chiefly because they did not know that God the Holy Spirit was living and could impart life to the body of Christ and raise Him up. It was the doctrine of the resurrection with which Paul stopped the philosophers on Mare Hill dead in their mental tracks. With all of their achievements in reasoning and philosophic cliff climbing, here was something that defied possibility. But this is not surprising when one remembers that the gods they worshiped were vanities, while the God of whom Paul was preaching is the living God.