On the nature of God, and whether or not the Prime Mover does anything… When we begin to understand where Aquinas is going with: God is His Own existence or Act of Being; thus, as ‘ipsum Esse Subsistens,” we will begin to understand the categorical error. Who God is, does not involve contingent motion. All things are contingent. All doing is contingent upon (ultimately) The Prime Mover – and never the opposite. It is surely our linguistic limitations, but some languages get close to it (maybe Japanese and Mandarin with deverbal nouns). God is Being Himself – and this state of His Being does not require anything to be “done.” Is God active? Of course, but in a way that is not merely some contingent or competitive doing, or response. God Himself is action. He Himself is peace. He Himself is Justice. They Themselves ARE Love. His Is-ness is what even makes doing, doable. He is “Doing-ness.” He does not simply dance, He is The Dance. — But, as Augustine said: Si comprehendis, non est Deus (but, if we understand, that which we understand is not God.)
~ Makala Barnabas Doulos
“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to Me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, My steadfast, sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified you. “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
~ Isaiah 55
Oh beloved, it is true.
We, those currently living in this plane, grasp (almost) the fact that we live in four dimensions. Each infinitesimal “slice” of our three-dimensional existence turns against the dimension that measures duration. And the combination of these dimensions enable us to perceive the motion of our lives – forward.
However, this leaves us in a bit of a conundrum. We know that our past is quite real. It haunts us. It encourages us. It leaps at us, and works to tear us apart. Further, while cannot experience it, we know the future is there. Eternity is in our hearts. We know that we will continue.
But, if we are honest about it, this leaves us a bit edgy. We fret about the future, because we cannot see it. The right-now slice of who we are is not real enough to reach into that next dimension.
And this is where it gets really important for us to begin to understand Who this G_d is that we serve. It truly is impossible for us now. But, we can begin to know. He can share the deep things of Who They Are, with us that we might begin to have Hope.
The passage from Isaiah is the clearest message from G_d Himself on the issue. His Ways are not our ways. And the scale of the difference is akin to our galaxy’s place in the universe.
Remember the slice of who we are right now? There is no slice of G_d.
While there is no way for our minds to comprehend this yet, the reality is that our Creator operates in and through all dimensions of reality. And some of the most exciting Physics work in the past few decades is beginning to see that even our current universe is made up of many more dimensions.
And these dimensions are not generally “spatial.” Up-down, left-right, back-forth are already covered. Rather, it appears that the additional dimensions (probably seven, or more of them), have more to do with possibility and the position of matter within those various possibilities.
Can we see it?
Look harder if you can’t.
G_d is not only walking alongside us in these dimensions. He – right now – exists among every possible course of our lives. He exists throughout every possible configuration of all the matter and choice implied by all of it.
What does this mean to us, though?
Everything.
Not only are we not alone, but there is no place to which we can go where G_d is not. Plus, beyond this being a great comfort, it gives us insight into how He works in our lives.
Have you ever considered the possibilities?
He is in your past right now. He is there with you, as you went through everything you went through.
He is in your present. However, instead of being another slice in time, He intersects with the time-frame we are in right now, but brings His transtemporal Presence to our moment.
He is in your future. He is already in all the possibilities and is actually making the way straight for you through this nearly-infinite labyrinth of possibilities.
So, the goodness and Love and healing that He will bring to our lives, if we let Him, is far more that some dose of medicine that will fade away. Rather, His Presence heals us eternally.
The abuse you received… He was there. He was the One who protected your soul and spirit.
The abandonment you have experienced. He was there, even now, and even into forever. Oh yes, the hurt is real, but to know that SomeOne has been with you enables a complete re-framing of our losses, abandonments, betrayals, a pain we have experienced.
And, not only was He there, it is even in eternity past that He had His mind completely focused on you and the challenges you face. He already knew the outcome – not because of prediction – but because He is already there at the outcome.
Look deeper.
The places in our lives that need healing; the bazillions of ways we are not enough, and in the circumstances that threaten to ruin us, He is approaching our need on the basis of His real existence. He is working from every possible angle, dimension and time – right now – to bring you through the trial and bring you ever closer to the moment where our eternity will meet His.
This is an astounding reality. G_d has been working for our good forever, and He is already doing this in the future that we will one day inhabit. Further, G_d does not just remember the past, His in it, right now.
So, are you feeling your past overwhelm you. Are you struggling right now? Are you concerned about the future? He is in all of this. All of Him is in each past moment that brought you to this moment – right now. His past and future is made present with you, right now. And all of Him is in our future, preparing the way – right now.
If we have any interest in God, if we have any hopes of blessedness in beholding of his glory unto eternity, we cannot but desire a view (such as is attainable) of this infinite, manifold wisdom of God in this life. But it is in Christ alone that we can discern anything of it; for him has the Father chosen and sealed to represent it unto us. All the treasures of this wisdom are hid, laid up, and laid out in him; — herein lies the essence and form of faith. Believers by it do see the wisdom of God in Christ, in his person and office, — Christ the wisdom of God. Unbelievers see it not, as the apostle argues, in 1 Cor. i. 22–24.
~ The Glory of Christ by John Owen
