THE QUESTION OF THE AGES by Jeff Wingo

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas! It really is a very beautiful time of year, and something always happens at this time that I think is just amazing. As you know, many stores and radio stations play wall-to wall Christmas music, and many people go about their business trying to ignore it. After a while it just becomes more noise in the background.

But, if you listen to the old songs, the familiar tunes of Christmas, fill the air with the good news about the newborn Christ child. It’s truly the only time of year that immerses the secular world in the gospel! People who otherwise wouldn’t listen to a sermon or a gospel message will listen (even if forced at the mall because it plays in the background), to the Christmas music played in every store and mall in the nation, and most of the old tunes declare the Glory of God through the birth of Christ in the music of the season.

Just consider the words of one song, Hark The Herald Angels Sing:

Hark the herald angels sing                      Christ, by highest heaven adored
“Glory to the newborn king”                     Christ the everlasting Lord
Peace on earth, and mercy mild               Late in time behold him come
God and sinners reconciled                       Offspring of the favored one
Joyful all ye nations rise                            Veiled in flesh, the God had seen
Join the triumph of the skies                    Hail the incarnate deity
With angelic host proclaim                       Pleased, as man with men to dwell
“Christ is born in Bethlehem”                  Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark the herald angels sing                      Hark the herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn king”                     “Glory to the newborn king”

Hail the heaven born prince of peace      Born that man no more may die
Hail the son of righteousness                    Born to raise the sons of earth
Light and life to all he brings                     Born to give them second birth
Risen with healing in his wings                 Hark the herald angels sing                                                                             Glory to the newborn king

Lyrics by Charles Wesley, 1739.

On my Contact page I received a very good question from Jason, which I would like to post here. As I stated in the post above during the Christmas season, if you go to the stores or the mall your probably going to hear some Christian Christmas music. I believe that may cause many people to think–is Christ real?  Was there a virgin birth?  If Christ is God, why did he come to Earth as a baby in Bethlehem?

Those are good questions posed by real people searching for truth. Many in our culture say there is no truth, or, your truth is not my truth; or, they deny that truth exists at all! Before His crucifixion, when He stood before the Roman Governor Pilate, Jesus declared His reason for coming to the world:

“To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice” (John 18:37).

The sly Governor looked at Jesus and retorted,  “What is truth?”  Unfortunately, Pilate could not recognize truth even when it came from the One who declared that He is “the way, the truth, and the life,” and the only way to the Father (John 14:6).

I admire those who are willing to consider the Christian message. Some will accept the Word, and some will not, and yet there are others who will hear the message and think about it. That provides the necessary time for the Holy Spirit to minister God’s truth to their heart.

My only advice would be don’t wait too long. The Bible says that, “Today is the day of salvation,” (2 Cor. 2:6),  none of us have a promise of tomorrow in this world.

Here is Jason’s question followed by my response:

“If god created us, who created god? Did he create himself?”

Ah, the question of the ages! Thank you Jason for your question, I hope I can answer the question to your satisfaction. The Bible never seeks to defend the existence of God, it just states as matter of fact that God is. Even the name of God revealed as the LORD (יְהֹוָה Yᵉhôvâh) declares that He is the sole Creator and initiator of all that exists, and that He is “self-Existent or eternal.”

As for the question, “Who created God,” we must recognize that the question contains a flaw because it presupposes that God, in order to exist, required a start or beginning. We know that the universe had a beginning, yet to create or bring into being such an immense universe would require an enormous amount of power and energy. Yet, God is beyond the universe, an uncaused self-existent Being, eternal and beyond nature, who creates space, time, and matter, at will by the power of His spoken Word alone. He is incomprehensible and beyond human understanding because He separate from Creation and exists outside of time and matter. The Bible declares His eternality:
“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God” (Psalm 90:2).

The beauty and mystery of the universe declares His glory, Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork…”

And yet, even though the universe and nature itself declares His power, majesty, and glory, man still refuses to acknowledge God. Science believes BY FAITH that the universe came into existence all by itself, and that life on Earth sprang into being from nothing–a primordial stew, or a chemical pool, which contained the right ingredients; and that by chance, this self-existent chemical mix was hit by a bolt of lightning or jump started in some amazing way by another energy source of some kind.

Yet the Bible faithfully declares that we did indeed have a beginning, and that beginning wasn’t by way of a pool of random chemicals, which coalesced over time (billions of years), and random chance. Our beginning was the Word from God: In the beginning (time), God created the heavens and the earth (space and matter).

To this answer I might add that Jesus, being the eternal God in flesh (John 1:1, 14), also declared His eternality before the Jews by stating, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). The Jews listening to Him fully understood what He was saying, and in response they said “You, a mere man, claim to be God” (John 10:33), and took up stones to kill Him.

Later Jesus said unto them, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” With this claim to eternality Jesus used the very name of God “I am,” which God gave to Moses (Ex. 3:14). The name, “I am that I am” refers to Gods eternal, self-existent nature. In other words, there is nothing “behind” God, He is self-sustaining and self-existing. He exists from eternity to eternity, meaning that He is not subject to time–He always is existing. From our perspective God exists in the present, and the future–yet in truth, He is God,  without beginning or end.

Jesus stepped into time, lived a perfect life, died on the cross for our sins, arose victorious from the dead, and ascended to heaven. Believe the gospel and be saved. For whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13).

I hope that helps, and thanks for asking.
Jeff Wingo