The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed by Kathy Shortridge of Billings, Montana from the tape, GC 1301-P, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 18."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE. ©1981. All Rights Reserved.

Question

I have a question about Proverbs 25:2. I’m confused about the first part of the verse; it talks about, "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter."

Answer

Well, basically, the glory of God is His nature right? His attributes, His Character, His person. All that He is. And one of the aspects, one of the elements of the nature of God is that He does not reveal everything. Deuteronomy 29:29 says, "The secret things belong to the Lord." It is the very nature of God to conceal certain things, it is the glory of God to hide things from us. Particularly in the Old Testament, isn’t that true? The whole mystery of the New Covenant, The New Testament was hidden from ages past and is now revealed. So it is in the nature of God to conceal things.

I’ll put it another way. The supreme revelation of the nature of God is that He has concealed things. Do you know what I mean by that? If we could understand everything in the mind of God then God would be at our level. Right? So the fact that God has concealed from us those things that are beyond us is His supreme glory. That is what sets Him beyond us. Do you understand that? The difference between you as an adult and your little baby, is that in maturity you have a perception level and an intellect that is way beyond the perception of that child. So your very glory over your little infant child is that you can know so much more, and that is God's. Where as the honor of a king is not that he is able to know more than other men, but that he is better able to search out wisdom than other men, that’s how he rises to the place of leadership, so it's a contrast. The best of men, the greatest leaders of men are the wisest who can seek the truth. But God in His greatest glory is One whose truth is so far beyond us, that it is not even searchable.

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
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