2 December | EVERYONE
«God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.» Hebrews 1: 1,2
Augustine of Hippo liked to reflect on the nature of God in order to try to understand it well. The story about the philosopher and theologian’s encounter with a boy who was filling a hole on the beach with sea water is well known.
To the surprised Augustine’s question as to why he was doing this, the boy explained that he was trying to empty the sea by passing its water into that hole. “But that is impossible!” replied the philosopher. And then the boy told him that it was even more impossible to try to unravel the nature of God. A great lesson.
No mere human being has ever been able to encompass the Creator. Not even His prophets came to fully comprehend Him, much less contain Him in their revelations, even though they were inspired by God Himself. He is always greater, not only than His creatures, but also than the knowledge they can receive from Him.
The wonderful thing is that there came a time when God, in order to reveal Himself, used His own Son, “the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person” (Heb. 1:3). The qualitative leap was gigantic: now we could know, in a complete way, who God really is.
We remain, of course, unable to decipher all the unknowns about divine nature. However, we can already know the essential: His unique character, summed up in the phrase “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). A character demonstrated in the life of One who is “one” with the Father (John 10:30).
Take Action
Reread today’s text along with the following verse. Have you ever thought about the difference between God speaking through the prophets and speaking through the Son himself, who is His very essence? Meditate on it and draw conclusions. Sing “God Spoke” (if possible, with your family).