In this encouragement, I wish to encourage you to consider the awesome God that we have and to honor and glorify Him. I have chosen as our text 1 Timothy 1:17 “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” Let us break this verse down into its parts.
First, God is King. Few today live under the rule of a king in their earthly country. But we understand the basic concept of a king. A king would be the supreme authority in a country. He rules the country. Whatever he says happens. His servants and officials obey him. No one questions the king, because he does what he desires to do; his subjects accept whatever he decides. They must honor and obey the king. Our God is the King of the universe – everything in the whole universe is under his authority and rule. The earth is just one small piece of the universe, so God is also King of all the earth. Psalm 47:6-8 “Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with understanding. God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne.” Yes, God is on His holy throne, ruling over us as our King.
God is the King eternal. That means that He has always been King and He will always be King. Psalms 90:2 “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” There is no time when He wasn’t King and there will be no time when He won’t be King. Jesus gave what we call the Lord’s Prayer and He ended it with the following, in Matthew 6:13 “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” He is the King eternal.
God is immortal. We are mortal. We need to be renewed each day with food and drink and sleep. We grow old and die. But God does not need to be renewed. He does not get hungry or need sleep. He does not grow weary or grow old or die. Isaiah 40:28 “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.” Man and animals and plants die and decay. People made idols that looked like living things that decay. Romans 1:23 “And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.” God made things that decay, but He Himself is incorruptible, immortal.
God is invisible. One of the problems for those who don’t believe in God is that they cannot see Him; therefore, they assume that He doesn’t exist. John 1:18 “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” Jesus came from God and has declared Him to us. The reason we cannot see God is that He is Spirit and you cannot see a spirit. John 4:24 “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” Even though He is Spirit and invisible, we understand about Him by what He has made. Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” There is no excuse for failing to believe in an invisible God.
The text states “God who alone is wise.” Truly, God is wise. But the word “wise” was added by some translators and is not found in the original Greek. The more proper translation might be that He is the only God. There is no god who can be compared to Him because there is no other god. He doesn’t compete with another god. 1 Corinthians 8:4b-6 “We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.” There may be multiple gods that people worship, whether it be an idol or money or position or fame. However, there is no other true God but one.
To God be honor. Honor implies respect and reverence that is due God because of who He is and what He does. 1 Timothy 6:15b-16 “He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.” I like this description that includes the facts that He is Potentate, King, Lord, immortal, invisible and also that He dwells in unapproachable light. It makes me think of our sun that for us is so hot and so bright that we cannot approach it; God also dwells in unapproachable light. We are to honor Him. There are many reasons why we should honor God. The list of reasons might begin with His marvelous creation, continue through the gift of His only begotten Son, and finish with His gift to us of eternal life. We naturally should honor God the Father.
To God be glory. There is an inherent glory that God has. Here is what Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 6:1-3 “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!’” While God is inherently marvelous and glorious, we should glorify Him through our praise and worship of Him.
I repeat the text for this encouragement. 1 Timothy 1:17 “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”