by Matthew W. Bassford<\/p>\n
I love that God thinks so differently than we do. Because His ways are not our ways, He consistently reveals Himself to us using means that we never would have chosen. We prefer straight lines and straightforward propositions, but God works in subtlety and paradox. These things are His signature, His proof that He has not sprung from the mind of man.<\/p>\n
Consider, for instance, the way that God represented Himself in the Old Testament. Humans answer the question of divine representation in human ways. We make idols that display the characteristics that we think belong to gods. Perhaps the idol incorporates elements of powerful animals. Perhaps it simply looks like a large, unnaturally good-looking man or woman. That’s as far as our ingenuity takes us.<\/p>\n
God’s solution to the problem was very different. He gave instructions for the construction of the mercy seat that was to sit atop the ark of the covenant. Two cherubim sat to either end of the mercy seat, flanking a space in which there was. . . nothing. Any other religion on earth would have put an idol there, but God did not. In place of a focus for the devotion of His worshippers, there was only empty space.<\/p>\n
Human wisdom finds this baffling, even maddening. What are we to make of a God like that? There is nothing extraordinary about empty space!<\/p>\n
Here, of course, we find the paradox that is the divine signature. Indeed, there is nothing extraordinary about empty space, but a God who scorns all representation as inadequate is truly extraordinary! Our highest ideals of what God should look like fall so far short of His reality that we should not even attempt them. The nothingness between the cherubim signified a God who transcended the knowable and visible.<\/p>\n
Making representations of God is not a human business. It is God’s business. Here we encounter more paradoxes, more of God’s fingerprints. Somehow, a God who cannot be constrained in any way was compressed into a human form that nonetheless was and is the image of the invisible God, the exact representation of His nature. We make images of wood and stone; God makes a second Adam. This too is incomprehensible, unfathomable even to the people who had been warned for a thousand years to expect it.<\/p>\n
In more divine contempt for human expectation, the Word become flesh had no stately form or majesty. He didn’t need them. Those with eyes to see had no trouble recognizing His divinity anyway.<\/p>\n
As Jesus died, the divine paradoxes multiplied. The God who does whatever He pleases tasted the extremity of human weakness. The Savior of the world could not save Himself. The Prince of Life was put to death. And yet, impotence, failure, and death combined to produce the greatest victory that God would ever achieve.<\/p>\n
The sign of this victory is a familiar one. Humans know how to celebrate victories. We hold parades, commission paintings, and build monuments. God does none of these things. Instead, just as He once revealed Himself through the empty space between two cherubim, He revealed Himself in the empty space between two angels sitting in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb. The empty space proclaimed and proclaims more than any direct signifier could.<\/p>\n
Christ is risen.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Matthew W. Bassford I love that God thinks so differently than we do. Because His ways are not our ways, He consistently reveals Himself to us using means that we never would have chosen. We prefer straight lines and straightforward propositions, but God works in subtlety and paradox. These things are His signature, His…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[90],"class_list":["post-61603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-god"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":25036,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-send-people-to-hell\/","url_meta":{"origin":61603,"position":0},"title":"Does God Send People to Hell?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jesse M Kelly via Preceptor, p.12 - Vol.57, No.6, June 2008. While discussing the subject of \"Hell\" with a lady acquaintance one day, she said to me, \"I just cannot conceive of a merciful God sending one to Hell to suffer eternally.\" We readily agreed with her. God doesn't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/choice-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":47435,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/humility-and-exaltation\/","url_meta":{"origin":61603,"position":1},"title":"Humility and Exaltation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dennis Stackhouse When Jesus related the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, His concluding remarks are recorded in Luke 18:14:\u00a0\"I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40961,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-will-the-judgment-be-like\/","url_meta":{"origin":61603,"position":2},"title":"What will the judgment be like?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What will the judgment be like for everyone? Will it be just between God and the person or a public event where everyone will be able to see or hear the account of things the person did, every secret and sin in his or her life? What's the difference\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60175,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/there-is-a-difference\/","url_meta":{"origin":61603,"position":3},"title":"There Is a Difference","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Billy Moore \"My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither your ways my ways, saith the Lord\" (Isaiah 55:8), so, there is a difference! There is a difference between Serving God and Serving Sin, between Walking by Faith and Walking by Sight, and between God's Ways and Our Ways. And\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41350,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-just-committed-fornication-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":61603,"position":4},"title":"I just committed fornication, again","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good morning minister, At this very moment, as I am writing you, I've just committed fornication. I have sinned greatly. My eyes are full of tears. I'm ashamed to even ask God for His forgiveness again. I am struggling with this sinful act. I'm a Christian.\u00a0 I pray. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":85542,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/god-was-manifest-in-the-flesh\/","url_meta":{"origin":61603,"position":5},"title":"God Was Manifest in the Flesh","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Tim Coffey via Guardian of Truth XL: 5 p. 8-9, March 7, 1996 Paul proclaimed, \"Great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh\" (I Timothy 3:16). 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