Knowing God

by J.I. Packer

1. Appreciate the goodness of God.

Do not slight the Bible, or the gospel of Jesus Christ, by an attitude of casualness toward either.

2. Appreciate the patience of God.

Think how he has borne with you, and still bears with you, when so much in your life is unworthy of him

Learn to marvel at his patience, and seek grace to imitate it in your...

3. Appreciate the discipline of God.

we know jealousy, the green-eyed

eyed monster, as a vice,

whereas God, we are sure, is perfectly good. How, then, could anyone ever imagine that...

Were we imagining a God, then naturally we should ascribe to him only characteristics which we admired, and

jealousy would not enter the picture.

Nobody would imagine a jealous God. But we are not making up an idea of God by drawing on our imagination; we are seeking instead to ...

God our C...

has revealed himself. He has talked. He has spo...

human agents and messengers—and supremely through his Son, ou...

what is the nature of this divine jealousy? How can jealousy be a virtue in God when it is a vice in humans?

1. Biblical statements about God’s jealousy are anthropomorphisms.

Only man, of all physical creatures, was made in God’s image. Since we are more like God than is any other being known to us, it is more illuminating and less misleading for God to picture himself to us in human terms

We have to remember that man is not the measure

of his Maker, and that when the language of human personal life is used of God, none of the limitations of human creaturehood are thereby being implied—limited

And we must remember that those elements in human qualities which show the corrupting effect of si...

for instance, his wrath ...

outburst that human anger s...

but it is holiness reacting to evil in a way that is morally ...

2. There are two sorts of jealousy among humans, and only one of them is a vice. Vicious jealousy is an

expression of the attitude, “I want what you’ve got, and I hate you because I haven’t got

there is another sort of jealousy:

zeal to protect a love relationship or to avenge it when broken.

married persons “who felt no jealousy at the intrusion of a lover or an adulterer into their home would surely be lacking in moral perception; for the exclusiveness of marriage is the essence of marriage”

This sort of jealousy is a positive virtue,

He meant that he demands from those whom he has loved and redeemed utter and absolute loyalty, and he will vindicate his claim by stern action against them if they betray his love by unfaithfulness.

The Lord very frequently addresses us in the character of a husband. . . . As He performs all the offices of a true and faithful husband,

so He requires love and chastity from us; that is, that we do not prostitute our souls to Satan. . . . As the purer and chaster a husband is, the more grievously he is offended when he sees his wife inclining to a rival;

so the Lord, who has betrothed us to Himself in truth, declares that He burns with the hottest jealousy whenever, neglecting the purity of His holy marriage, we defile o...

when the worship of His deity, which ought to have been most carefully kept unimpaired, is transferred to another, or adulterated with some superstition; since in this w...

defile the nuptial couch, by giving access...

God’s jealousy over his people, as we have

seen, presupposes his covenant love; and this love is no transitory affection, accidental and aimless, but is the expression of a sovereign purpose. The goal of the covenant love of God is that he should have a people on earth

as long as history lasts, and after that should have all his faithful ones of eve...

God’s ultimate objective, as the Bible declares it, is threefold—to vindicate his rule and righteousness by showing his sovereignty in judgment upon sin; to

ransom and redeem his chosen people; and to be loved and praised by them for his glorious acts of love and self-vindication. God seeks what we should seek—his glory, in and through men—and it is for the securing of this

end, ultimately, that he ...

His name is his nature and character

God means his name to be known, honored and praised.

What practical bearing has all this on those who profess to be the Lord’s people?

1. The jealousy of God requires us to be zealous for God.

our right response to God’s ...

is love for him, so our right response to his jealousy over ...

What the prohibition of idolatry in the second commandment implies...

should be positively and passionately devoted to his person, his ...