Essence of God - Tapa blanda

"A natural man deals even with spiritual matters in a natural manner which is not pleasing to God. The spiritual man, however, deals even with temporal matters in a spiritual fashion. He views his encounter with them as a dispensation of the Lord, embracing them as the will of God. He performs his temporal obligations in willing obedience as a service to his God, having God’s glory as his objective."

Table of Contents

The Names of God

The Name JEHOVAH

The Name ELOHIM

The Essence of God

The Attributes of God

The Perfection of God

The Eternity of God

The Infinity and Omnipresence of God

The Simplicity of God

The Immutability of God

The Communicable Attributes of God

The Knowledge of God

The Will of God

Our Conduct and God's Will

The Holiness of God

The Goodness of God

The Love of God

The Grace of God

The Mercy of God

The Longsuffering of God

The Righteousness or Justice of God

The Power of God

The Duty of the Christian to Reflect upon the Attributes of God

Directions for Reflecting upon the Attributes of God

There is no other way to heaven except by way of courageous warfare. This is the way ordained by God: “And I will put enmity” (Gen. 3:15). You have chosen this way when you entered into the kingdom of Christ and placed yourself under His banner. Or on the other hand: you must either sever yourself from the covenant, as a villain walk from this ensign, and relinquish God, heaven, and everything else; or you must courageously engage in battle in order thus to conquer the devil and his cohorts, the world and all that is in it, as well as sin and all its lusts.

The crown of glory must be worth so much to you; so precious must spiritual life and fellowship with God be to you, and such pleasure must you find in the will of God, that you will be willing to battle valiantly all the days of your life. Do not let this weigh heavily upon your heart, thinking, “Must I be in arms and engage in warfare my entire lifetime? That is indeed a distasteful way and there is no way whereby I will persevere.” Yes, heaven must be that precious to you; or else you must not relinquish it.

Be it known, however, that to battle courageously is not such a heavy task as you allow yourself to believe. To always battle and succumb, or always to be equally matched in force, causing the outcome of the battle to be in doubt, is indeed a heavy task. It is a joyous task, however, to conquer as you are fighting, to proceed while conquering one city after another, and to humiliate the enemy battle after battle. Such will be the case if you but conduct yourself courageously, commensurate with you strength—be it that you battle as a child, a young man, or a man. You are so fearful of the battle because you do not proceed courageously, instead, due to your laxity, carelessness and lack of seriousness you give the enemy the opportunity to get the advantage over you. This makes them more courageous and you become weaker. Therefore, lift yourself up in the ways of the Lord and courageously engage yourself. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Wilhelmus à Brakel was born on January 2, 1635 in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. He studied theology at the universities in Franeker and Utrecht and was particularly influenced by his mentor, Gisbertus Voetius. He served four congregations in his native province of Friesland: Exmorra (1662 1665), Stavoren (1665 1670), Harlingen (1670 1673), and his birthplace, Friesland s capital, Leeuwarden (1673 1683). His Friesland period, however, proved to be a preparation for the great task the Lord had laid away for him in Rotterdam his final and longest pastorate (1683 1711). After a fruitful ministry of forty-nine years, it pleased the Lord to take this eminent divine affectionately referred to by the godly as Father Brakel home to Himself in 1711 at the age of seventy-six, to receive the reward of a faithful servant.