Tracing the Amazing Wonders of the Personhood of God, Pt. 5
Study Guide, November 16, 2025
Pastor Clay Olsen
So, how about these quotes from notable Christian leaders?
“God does not love populations, He loves people. He loves not masses, but men. He loves us all with a mighty, personal love, and that love has feeling—it grieves, it rejoices, it yearns.”
A.W. Tozer
“Think not that God sits on high, indifferent to your tears, for ‘in all their afflictions He was afflicted.’ The heart of Jesus still beats with compassion for His people.” Charles Spurgeon
“God’s love is not a mild benevolence but a consuming fire. His emotions are perfect—never uncontrolled but always expressing the fullness of His holy character.” J.I. Packer
“We are not wrong to talk of the ‘emotion’ of God’s love; but His love is a steady, unrelenting, creative energy that nothing can deflect or diminish.” C.S. Lewis
Pretty great insights into our God! One of the inspiring truths we have been seeing in our adventure of looking deeper into the Personhood of our God is how deeply ‘Personable’ our God really is. And once we get a hold of how ‘Personable our God really is it then lifts us up to a new level of our discipleship. It lifts us up to relating to our God on a level that now connects our ‘devotion’ to God with our ‘duty’ to God. We begin finding that the Words of God are not only informing our minds, but they are now transforming our hearts. We find that these awesome revelations of the Scriptures are now leaving us not only with a sense of awe over the Scriptures, but especially over the Author of the Scriptures. And we discover that our God is not only pleased with our commitment to grow in the knowledge of Christ, but that our God also wants us to experience His pleasure upon us as we grow in character of Christ.
Remember that saying about imitation? ‘The highest form of flattery is imitation.’ That’s great, but we would take that up another notch, or more, and say – ‘The highest form of praise is imitation.’ When we make it our goal…and even more…make it our central act of devotion to become more and more like our God and Savior, Jesus Christ…that is the highest form of ‘praise’ that we can give to our God. And, again, God’s response to our praise is His…what? God’s response to our praise to Him is His pleasure toward us. And in sensing, and experiencing…and yes, in feeling God’s pleasure upon you produces a powerful effect on your sense of significance, your sense of personal satisfaction, and a greater desire to worship and serve your God, who takes pleasure in those who fear and worship and serve Him. “The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy.” Ps.147:11 NKJV
In fact, the Lord wants us to ‘feel’ His pleasure upon us as we run our race of faith. Remember, it is this ‘pleasure of God’ upon us that will power us up for living out the doctrines that God has given to us. It is God’s pleasure upon us that not only inspires us intellectually and volitionally but also inspires us emotionally…just the way our God wants to inspire us! Remember: Doctrine is directly connected with Emotion. Mark it down: ‘Doctrine without emotion is cold orthodoxy; emotion without doctrine is simply humanistic enthusiasm. But doctrine with emotion forms a truthful life-altering faith!’ Think again to God’s call to us: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Mark 12:30 NIV To be sure – Doctrine and devotion belong together.
Therefore, as we learn God’s great doctrines with our mind, the natural and right response should be a devotional reaction of our heart with the emotions of awe and wonder and yes…love…love for our God, Who is the God of all truth and love. Doctrine and devotion – Don’t leave home without them! Which takes us back to the wonders of the connections between the Doctrines of the Bible and their emotional attachments.
Note our next doctrine: the Doctrine of Creation.
Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Psalm 19:1: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His
hands.”
Isaiah 40:26: “Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name.”
Col.1:16:”For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created
through Him and for Him.”
Of course, with the wondrous works of our God in His creation of the heavens and the earth and all who dwell upon it, the emotions of wonder and awe and of course, gratitude and praise rise to the surface of our souls. And interestingly enough, so does another emotion…one that we often simply identify as a character trait, but it is also powerfully emotive. Notice: “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet.” Ps. 8:3-6 NASB
As the Psalmist considered the greatness of God as witnessed in the greatness of God’s creation he felt a powerful sense of humility wash over his soul. The story is told of President Theodore Roosevelt, that whenever he and Charles Fairbanks, Vice President, began feeling the power and prestige of their positions, they would go outside and look at the stars and the heavens for a while. And then President Roosevelt would say, “Now then, do we feel small enough?” And then they would go back to work with a refreshed humble attitude about themselves. Remember, the right up look to the One who is the Creator of all will then give you the right outlook as one whom God has created. It will be an outlook of humility…a humble attitude about yourself and a grateful heart toward your Creator.
Speaking of humanity, let’s go onto Anthropology, or, the Doctrine of Humanity. And let’s explore what the Psalmist revealed about God’s plan for man. That is, God created humanity with a purpose of managing all that He had created; first, managing the works of Earth and then expanding to all the works God’s hands…all Creation. God’s plan was to create a family for Himself who would then rule and reign along with Himself over all that He had created.
Talk about the emotional connections with these purposes of God! God’s plan was for His children to steward and manage and care for all that He had created! You see, along with that humility about ourselves are also the emotions of excitement and joy and thanksgiving about God’s plan! Remember, God’s intention was for His children to have dominion, or stewardship, over all the works of His hands. And although God’s plan has been effaced by the sin of man…God’s plan has not been erased. And when God completes His building up of His redeemed family through His redemptive plan, then His ruling plan for man will continue and will expand for all eternity. “But as it is written, ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him'”. 1 Cor. 2:9 KJV
Think about it: Why do you think that things such as owning a section of land or having a home to call your own and such is so satisfying and fulfilling to the human experience? Where did that longing for some sense of ‘dominion’ or ‘management’ or ‘stewardship’ over something on this Earth ever come from anyway? Of course! God designed mankind with ‘dominion’ in mind…the Biblical sense of dominion, that is…of care-taking and developing and managing something of that which the Creator had made…made for His family. Do not forget what you are looking at when you look at the Earth and the Stars and the Heavens above us. Our Heavenly Father is saying to His children: “I made all of this for you!”
Plus, remember, it is only a short matter of time before every unrepentant person is going to have to turn over to God whatever they have falsely thought they owned in this world…they will have to turn it back over to God and to God’s redeemed children. For everything in this world, everything that you see…every piece of land, every building, every structure, every person’s portfolio…everything that you see, you need to say… “My Heavenly Father owns this. God owns it all!” “The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it.” Ps 24:1
There is only One Owner of this world and all it contains. People the world over have only temporarily taken charge of what in fact belongs to God. But soon, all worldly dominion by worldly people will be turned back over to God and to God’s people to be managed according to the godly dominion that God intended for it all, and God will one day soon impose ‘His will’ over His world.
We can even see in our present Earth experiences some glimpses or previews of the coming Kingdom, or we should say Kingdoms. And even though our present world has been terribly sin-damaged and thus has distorted the original plan of this ‘godly dominion’ by man, still, we do have some previews from it. Look some of Jesus’ own previews about His coming Kingdom and our experience of it.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Mt 6:19-21 It’s like that good old saying, “No, you can’t take it with you…but you can send it on ahead!” Oh yes, Jesus is clearly talking about storing up tangible rewards in the coming Kingdom that He will award to us based upon our faithful service and sacrifice for His will in this present world.
Jesus also said this: “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life. Luke 18:29,30 Jesus was speaking about both spiritual blessings and physical compensations in both the spiritual and physical coming Kingdom.’
And note Jesus’ instructions about faithfulness in the stewardship of the things on Earth in relation to the enjoyment of the true riches to come in Heaven. “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?” Luke 16:10-12 Notice that the positive side of Jesus’ admonition here was that faithfulness in our stewardship now is going to be rewarded with greater stewardship over even greater riches that will be apportioned to us in Heaven.
Why, even in the Parable of the Talents Jesus gave us a preview of our coming dominion and ruling privileges in the coming Kingdom. “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” Matt 25:23 And in the Gospel of Luke it expanded to say, “…I will make you to rule over ten cities”…revealing here that part of God’s plan for those who are faithful in serving Him is this world is to be given special ‘ruling assignments’ and service privileges in the coming Kingdom.
And yes, we said previews of coming Kingdoms, because like, whereas this present Earth is a dim preview of the coming Millennial Kingdom, the Millennial Kingdom is a bright preview of the coming Eternal Kingdom. But now, what features and previews do we see in the Millennial Kingdom concerning our coming experience of having godly dominion of God’s world? Notice what Isaiah foretells about the Millennial Kingdom…about this coming ‘Age’ when even the harmony in the animal kingdom is restored. “They will build houses and inhabit them; They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They will not build and another inhabit, They will not plant and another eat; For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people. And My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands.” (or, will have full use of and profit from the work of their hands) Isa. 65:21,22 NASB
How amazing is that? God reveals that that in the Millennial Kingdom there will be the experience of enjoying private property of homes and personal dwellings, along with the blessings of sharing in community developments and enjoying an abundance of goods and services. God’s people will have homes and properties and all kinds of rewards for their labors in their continuing privileges as being God’s stewards of His Earth and world. The real world of Heaven is going to have a lot of real ‘Earthy’ feel and experiences to it!
Realize this: It was God’s desire all along for Him to have both a spiritual family who would live with Him in a very physical world. And in this very physical world God’s family would enjoy living and developing and exploring and expanding their experiences in having godly dominion over all the works of their God’s hands. Oh yes, God’s plan for man…or God’s plan for His redeemed children is so great that it should greatly impact us emotionally. For it is when you know more and more about what God has in store for us in the future that we are then more and more filled and thrilled about it in the present, as well as then being more and more equipped to deal with whatever is temporarily happening in this present, but temporal world. To say that what God has planned for us is exciting…well, that is a major understatement! Rather, God’s plan for us is intended to emotionally excite us day by day, for it is safe to say that our God, too, is excited about it. You mean, our God gets excited…really? Well, where do you think our emotion of excitement came from in the first place?