Unfathomable Grace

Consider the number of mysteries found in Scripture and theological thought:

What did God do before creation?

Exactly when were the angels created?

How is there one God in three persons?

Why did a perfectly good man, created in the image of God, desire sin?

How does God decree whatsoever comes to pass and yet mourn over sinners?

Do saints in heaven have bodies now even though their resurrected bodies have not yet been given to them?

What will God do with the nation of Israel?

How long will be the line to see Jesus when one arrives in paradise?

These are just some of the hundreds of questions asked by theologians. As one studies Scripture, for every answer one finds, three more questions spring forth.

Sadly, some use their unanswered questions as an excuse to disregard God’s Word. They wrongly conclude that because men cannot know everything, they cannot know anything.

However, this is when one must apply the truth found in Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

We may not know why an Israelite was not to boil a goat in its mothers milk. We may not understand why Aaron was allowed to live after constructing a golden calf, but his sons were killed after offering strange fire. As we conclude Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, there is much that is strange, odd, bizarre, confusing, and unknowable. But let us not allow the unknowable to keep us from doing that which is clearly presented and understood. God’s secrets are no excuse for us not obeying that which he clearly states.