The Experience of God in the Old and New Testaments - Part 4

[Guest guest]

Conclusion to Part 3:

 

(P.213) God is the God of justice and he demands justice, but he is also the God

of mercy. This comes out beautifully in Hosea. Through Hosea there is a profound

and sensitive revelation of the 'hesed' of God. (P.214) There is no exact

equivalent of 'hesed' in English, but it is often translated as loving-kindness.

Hosea experiences God in a love relationship, in a bridal relationship. The Lord

says, " I will betroth you to me for ever; I will betroth you to me in

righteousness and in justice and in steadfast love and in mercy. " Linked with

this bond of love is knowledge. He goes on, " I will betroth you to me in

faithfulness; and you shall know the Lord " [19]. That is the 'gnosis' which is

knowledge of the Lord through love. This is the theme of all mystical

experience. Interestingly this passage goes on to say, " I will answer the

heavens and they shall answer the earth and the earth shall answer the corn and

the wine and the oil and they shall answer Jezreel. " That means that this God of

heaven above is also the God of the earth and when this relationship of love and

righteousness is established with him, then the earth also prospers and bears

fruit. This is an expression of the cosmic dimension in Israel's experience of

God. Whereas in Hinduism it is the dominant theme, in Israel it is secondary but

it is always present. The God of Israel is also the Creator of the world and he

controls the world from above. He is never immanent in the same way as the Hindu

God is, but he has this power over the whole creation and the creation responds

to his will. The other significant passage in Hosea is where he says, " When

Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. " [20] This

brings out again how the God who reveals himself as love is also the God who

acts in history.

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and Christian Faith)

Chapter 10, Pg.213-214

 

 

Part 3:

 

The Experience of God in the Old and New Testaments

 

(P.214) When we come to the great prophets of Israel, Isaiah, Jeremiah and

Ezekiel, we are here very clearly in the world of historic reality. The prophet

is one who knows God and who knows also God's will for humanity. Revelation here

is always concerned with the will of God for the world and for humanity, but

nevertheless the prophets themselves have the most profound experiences. Isaiah,

for instance, has this experience in the Temple. (P.215) " In the year that

Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his

train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim; each had six wings: with

two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

And one called to another and said, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the

whole earth is full of his glory.' " This again is a deep mystical experience

under the symbolic forms of the Temple, the throne and the angels crying, " Holy,

holy, holy " . Through this is brought out an aspect of God's self-revelation

which emerges particularly in Isaiah, namely, the holiness of God. To be holy

means to be separate. When you take anything and offer it to God, what you are

doing is separating it from common use and it then becomes a holy thing. If a

person is consecrated to God, separated from the world, he is regarded as a holy

person. God himself, in Israel's understanding, is the supremely separated one,

the one who is beyond everything in utter transcendence. So holiness is the

essential attribute of God. Isaiah responds to the manifestation of the Lord on

the throne by saying, " ...I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst

of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. "

[21] The holiness of God reveals one's own sin, one's own unworthiness. The

holiness of God is realised as a moral transcendence.

 

The two moral attributes of God which come out clearly in Isaiah and in the

other great prophets are justice or righteousness {'zedek') and mercy or

loving-kindness ('hesed'). The God of Israel is primarily revealed in the moral

order, whereas the Hindu revelation is primarily in the cosmic order. In

Hinduism God is the cosmic Lord, the Lord of creation, although 'dharma' the

moral law, is also recognised as deriving from him. Krishna in the 'Bhagavad

Gita' is said to be the Lord of 'dharma', righteousness. In Hinduism, however,

this aspect is subordinate whereas in Israel the primary character of God is his

righteousness, which means his justice, his concern for justice in this world.

(P.216) He is righteous in himself and demands righteousness of those who serve

him. This demand for justice as an essential condition for true religion is one

of the basic principles of the prophetic revelation.

 

In the later chapters of Isaiah Yahweh, Israel's God, is revealed as the only

God. It is in these chapters, which belong to a later period after the exile,

that the strongest expressions of monotheism occur, as, for instance, " I am the

Lord, there is no other. Beside me there is no God. " [22] It is quite definite

that in Israel the Lord Yahweh was the one Lord alone to be worshipped, the God

of Gods, Lord of Lords. Not God other than Yahweh was to be worshipped. This

principle came down to the Christians also and to the Muslims. We need to be

aware that such strongly emphasised monotheism created a problem later, because

when only one form of God is recognised all other forms are denied. Hostility

develops towards all other forms of God, and then inevitably great conflict

arises with other religions of the world where God is worshipped under other

forms.

 

Whereas in Isaiah God is the God of holiness and of righteousness, in Jeremiah

God is again like the God of Hosea, the God of love. Jeremiah has a wonderful

experience right at the beginning when the Lord appears to him and says, " Before

I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated

you. " Somewhat like Isaiah responding to the vision of the holiness of God by

feeling unclean and sinful, Jeremiah here responds by feeling like a child

before God. He responds to the call to be a prophet by saying, " Ah, Lord God, I

do not know how to speak for I am only a child. " But the Lord says, " Do not say

" I am only a child " for to all to whom I shall send you you shall go, and

whatever I command you you shall speak. " [23] (P.217) Again this mystical

experience, as always is directed towards the people, to action and service, but

it is essentially an experience of divine love. " I have loved you with an

everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. " [24]

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and

Christian Faith)

Chapter 10, Pg.213-217

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0

 

Notes:

 

[16] 2 Kings 2:11

 

[17] Amos 4:13

 

[18] Amos 5:14, 24

 

[19] Hosea 2:19-20

 

[20] Hosea 11:1

 

[21] Isaiah 6:1-5

 

[22] Isaiah 45:5

 

[23] Jeremiah 1:5-6

 

[24] Jeremiah 31:3