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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.”
Acts 17:24
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
The altar in Athens sadly bore this inscription:
“To an Unknown god”
The Greeks worshiped many gods (small “g”) and knew about all of them and their powers but sadly, none of those gods existed. Not one. For there was only one God (capital “G”) and He was the Lord God Almighty, the Maker of heaven, earth, and all things within them. And since God was the Creator of all things, He was in authority over everything. All created things were (and still are) subordinate to Him.
This was the truth in biblical times, it remains true today, and it will forever be true but this doesn’t mean that everyone will prescribe to this truth. As we have seen in chapter 17 as Paul experienced the Athenian culture, there were people who didn’t really know who God was. After all, had the people known God, they would have no had an altar constructed to a god that was unknown. They would have known there was one God and directed the sole focus of their worship on Him.
This is why Paul’s message, shared in the synagogue and marketplace, was confusing to the Athenians. As proof, you’ll recall they labeled Paul a “babbler” because he was speaking about foreign gods.
How could they call the God of all creation foreign?
Because they didn’t know Him, even though He made Himself evident all around them.
And so as Paul had a captive audience with the Athenians, invited to speak before the Areopagus, he had one goal in mind: He wanted to make the Lord known. We’re going to break down Paul’s second extended sermon in Acts and see how God is made known across a series of six devotions, today being the first. Let’s look again at the scripture verse for today:
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.” Acts 17:24
What does Paul make known about the Lord in this single verse?
First, it was God who made the world and everything in it.
There wasn’t a group of gods, all with a specific role in creation. There was no earth god or sea god or mountain god, no sun god or moon god or star god. No, there was one God who made the world and everything in it, a Creator God who up to this point was unknown by the Athenians before Paul made Him known to them.
Second, God was the God of heaven and earth. Period. He was (and still is) in total control and reigns completely over everything. Nothing is beyond the scope of His rule and all living things are accountable to Him and Him alone.
Finally, since God is in control and authority over all things, since He sits in supremacy over all, then He is not dependent on man for anything. He doesn’t live in temples made by human hands like He would be homeless without man’s help. Rather, it’s the other way around. All of creation is dependent on God for everything. Without His help and care, mankind is helpless and hapless.
The Athenians had no knowledge of God because they believed and placed their faith in everything but Him. Paul sought to change that narrative and in this first devotion of this series, we see that he gets off to a good start.
Tomorrow, we’ll see how he continues to reveal God to the Areopagus.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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