The Knowledge of the Holy (A.W. Tozer)

from an email April 22, 2006

A. W. Tozer wrote "The Knowledge of the Holy" back in 1961 and it is good! Basically the book goes through 23 small chapters, each talking about a different unique attribute of God ( ie the Justice of God, the Mercy of God, the Grace of God, the Love of God, the Wisdom of God, the Self-existence of God, the Self-sufficiency of God, the Immutability of God, the Holiness of God, the Sovereignty of God)
It's really good!!! I definately recommend it!
Here's some quotes.
In Christ,
David

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. (pg 1)

God, being infinite, must possess attributes about which we can know nothing. (pg 13)

Thou dost seek us, though Thou does not need us. We seek Thee because we need Thee, for in Thee we live and move and have our being. (pg 32)

So there may be, and I believe there surely are, other aspects of God's essential being which He has not revealed even to His ransomed and Spirit-illuminated children. (pg 46)

There is no place in heaven or earth or hell where men may hide from His presence (pg 74) --- what do you think? Agree? I firmly believe in God's omnipresence but this quote made me think for a day or so... do I really believe God is present in hell? After having a little "house discussion/debate" and talking with people I've concluded that the Bible agrees with Tozer's quote, that not even in hell can people hide from God's presence.

The world is spiritual: it originated in spirit, flows out of spirit, is spiritual in its essence, and is meaningless apart from the Spirit that inhabits it. (pg 75)

The vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions. (pg 89) --- Lewis you like that one? How many times have we heard "God is too kind"... GET SERIOUS!!! God is not only loving but also JUST!!

Both the Old and New Testaments proclaim the mercy of God, but the Old has more than four times as much to say about it as the New. We should banish from our minds forever the common but erroneous notion that justice and judgement characterize the God of Israel, while mercy and grace belong to the Lord of the Church. (pg 91)

The apostle John, by the Spirit, wrote "God is love" ... John was by those words stating a fact, but he was not offering a definition. (pg 97)

Holy is the way God is. To be holy He does not conform to a standard. He is that standard. He is absolutely holy with an infinite, incomprehensible fullness of purity that is incapable of being other than it is. Because He is holy, His attributes are holy; that is, whatever we think of as belonging to God must be though of as holy. God is holy and He has made holiness the moral condition necessary to the health of the universe. Sin's temporary presence in the world only accents this. (pg 106) --- this one made me think too... "sins temporary presence"!!!!! One day we'll join with all the redeemed and sin will be no more!

There is a glorified Man on the right hand of the Majesty in heaven faithfully representing us there. We are left for a season among men; let us faithfully represent Him here. (pg 117)

And here's Tozer's closing prayer...

Oh God, raise up prophets and seers in Thy Church who shall magnify Thy glory and through Thine almighty Spirit restore to Thy people the knowledge of the holy. Amen.