Divine Nature

God has given us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these we may be partakers of the divine nature. 2 Pet. 1:4. God’s nature is light. 1 John 1:5; Jas. 1:17. He is light and brings forth light; consequently He is called light and the Father of light. Therefore His children are also called children of light. God’s kingdom is the kingdom of light, in contrast to the kingdom of darkness whose regent is the god of this world, Satan, the prince of darkness. God’s kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. God is all goodness; His being is light, which is the same as purity, total goodness, and blessedness. It is to this—His own nature—that a new and living way has been consecrated for us through and in Christ Jesus. Since the corrupt human nature has appeared through the lusts and is kept in corruption by the lusts and is bound up in our earthly bodies, a new birth has to occur, and the lusts in the body must be denied. The new man, on the other hand, is nourished and grows, seeing that he was born of incorruptible seed, which are the good words of faith: the words of Christ.

The only person who can be born again is someone who hates sin and loves the light, the truth, purity, and righteousness, which is one and the same thing. If all I love is to be comfortable, I will live according to my natural desires, and I am dead even though I am alive. The same thing applies after I have been born again. If the new man does not receive nourishment through the word of truth, he will die and be cut off from the tree as an unfruitful branch proclaiming peace and joy and satisfaction and well-being and comfort—without righteousness—is therefore a deadly preaching! Rather proclaim righteousness, for peace and joy and blessedness cannot stay away where there is righteousness. It is also dangerous to proclaim power without light, for there are also powers in the kingdom of darkness, but without light. Satan also has power; there are also powers in the kingdom of darkness. However, he cannot be along in anything that is in the light and leads to the light, as well as in anything that is good and true. These times are perilous times, but we can loudly thank and praise God because the way of salvation is so simple that no one will be deceived if he loves God with all of his heart. A God-fearing soul who loves the good and hates the evil will never be content with hearing enthusiastic “feel-good” speeches about power, for that in itself is not good, neither is it life-giving food. On the contrary, such a soul looks for the Word of life, for God’s nature, for light, righteousness, truth, kindness, mercy, godly fear, love, peace, joy, longsuffering, patience, meekness, gentleness, generosity, faithfulness, moderation, frugality—he looks for all the virtues.

It is good always to be zealous for the good. By being good we please God, for He is goodness personified. When the Word tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith, this tells us that it is impossible to do the good without faith, and this agrees with all God’s Word—especially by these blessed and perfectly fitting words: “Whatever is not from faith is sin.” Therefore if a person strives for the good without faith, he will eventually be convinced that there is nothing good in himself. This is good! You will do the good if you walk in the obedience of faith. This is best! In any case, it is good to desire the good, such as light, righteousness, and truth. On the other hand, having a desire to have good feelings and power is not always good. It is often corrupting! There is this life-threatening, all-pervasive spiritual defilement in these days. Its slogan against that which is good and incorruptible is this: “That is bondage!” Those who are defiled by it love themselves and their lusts more than God. They speak much about liberty, contentment, peace, joy, rejoicing, and feasting, as well as about power and alliances—all this while they occupy themselves very little or not at all with the foundation and the very essence of life in God’s kingdom—divine nature.

The person who desires to pay heed to God’s Word will see that everything revolves around discerning between light and darkness, prudence and folly, knowledge and ignorance, wisdom and foolishness, or in a few words, between good and evil (noble and ignoble). In the light everything is good; in the darkness everything is evil! Light is life itself. Now the soul needs to believe; he needs grace and mercy, and through it, power. And these things can again be gathered into this: Love! God loves us; therefore He is good and merciful to us. Most people would like to receive these forbearing manifestations of God. However, what are they going to do with them? Is it so that they can continue to go their own ways—satisfying themselves, feeling comfortable, gaining a reputation—or is it for the sake of the good? The Scriptures tell us that in the last days there will be perilous times, for those who have an appearance of godliness will be despisers of good (note that it is for the sake of the good; for the deceptive thing—the way it appears to us—is that they love the good in such a way that it is a means of gain, a reputation, and self-satisfaction), who love their lusts more than God! If some people who are enlightened will see this, they have ample opportunity to do so, for their love of the good (the love that is false) does not go very far. It is difficult to find godly fear in the daily life of most people who fill the meeting halls. Actually, this is easy to understand, for they hate the light in their innermost being, denying the light that shines for them. They are not interested in the marvelous things in the laws of God’s wisdom. Not at all! They shout: “Give me only well-being; let me be free from this bondage (namely, being under law toward Christ’s divine, blessed laws); let me have this exceedingly great power so I can rouse admiration in others!” Read (right away) 2 Timothy 3! Pay attention to the spirit in it. If we will notice to Job 36:21, we will be truly enlightened; namely, that man would rather sin than suffer. It is truly a serious choice. The person who imagines that he can slide through the middle is deceived. And this is the very point. In these last years many people have been greatly blessed by God, but most of them have drifted away by leaving; others are still on the narrow way, the way of righteousness, but their minds have been defiled because their desire is for well-being and not to suffer for a short, little while.

In their innocence most people think that things are going well; they think that everything is just fine, for their eyes do not see clearly. However, it is far from going well. They sail along, following their lusts—but in God’s name. People speak about love, but they rejoice in deception, in sweet feelings, desiring earthly things, whereas God’s love rejoices in the truth, suffers gladly in hope, keeping the invisible things in mind. How can all these things happen? They can happen because the sound doctrine that disciplines to righteousness and leads to godliness is kept at bay. Either it is not a doctrine, or it is a false doctrine.

Elias Aslaksen