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God Independent and Self-sufficient

Isaiah 40:15-23

God alone is independent and self-sufficient. God is solitary in his Being, in his eternality, in his spirituality, and in his Tri-Unity. And God is solitary in his independence and self-sufficiency. God alone needs nothing. God does not need you and me. God needs nothing but himself. In old eternity, when God dwelt alone in the glory of his triune Persons, he was self-contained and self-sufficient, in need of nothing. He needed nothing to make him happy, glorious, and complete. And he is still independent, self-sufficient, in need of nothing. The creation of the world added nothing to God. He is immutable. He changes not (Malachi 3:6). His essential glory could never be increased or diminished.

No Necessity

God was under no constraint, obligation, or necessity to create the world. God, who “worketh all things after the counsel of his own will” (Ephesians 1:11), freely chose to create the world simply because it was his sovereign pleasure to do so. He created the world, not to get glory to himself, but to display and manifest his glory in it.

No Gain

God gains nothing from his creatures. Even the praises of redeemed sinners add nothing to the glory of his Being. — “Stand up and bless the Lord, your God, forever and ever; and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise” (Nehemiah 9:5). God predestinated his elect to eternal salvation to the praise of the glory of his grace, “according to the good pleasure of his will” (Ephesians 1:5). He chose to save us to show forth his glory in us, but not that he might increase his glory (Psalm 16:2-3).

We add nothing to him (Romans 11:34-36). And if God gains nothing from man, then it is impossible for man to bring God into any obligation to him (Job 35:7-8). And God loses nothing by the wickedness of his creatures (Job 35:6). As man can add nothing to God’s glory, so man can never diminish God’s glory. God made all things to show forth his glory; and all things shall serve their end (Revelation 4:11). The glory of his wisdom and power shall be seen in all creation and providence. The glory of his love and justice is seen in redemption. The glory of his mercy and grace is seen in the salvation of his elect. The glory of his truth and righteousness is seen in the eternal ruin of his enemies.

Totally Sovereign

Here is the solitariness of God. — The God of the Bible is so great that he is self-sufficient in the glory of his own holy Being. There was no vacuum in God’s heart that had to be filled by man. Had it pleased him to do so, he might have dwelt alone in his solitary glory forever, without making his glory known to any. All that we experience of his grace and goodness we experience because of his sovereign good pleasure alone (Psalms 115:3; 135:6). We thank and praise and adore God for the good pleasure of his grace toward us. We know that we owe everything to the sovereign purpose of his grace. But we also know that God is totally independent of his creatures and self-sufficient without us (Isaiah 40:15-23; 1 Timothy 6:15-16).

This is the God of the Bible. He is still, in this reprobate religious age, “the unknown God” (Acts 17:23). Because he is unknown in this religious world, we seek to make him known. This is a God to be reverenced, worshipped, and adored.

Don Fortner

Pastor Fortner’s