Mensa Otabil - The King Eternal, Immortal (10/02/2025)
First Timothy chapter 1, verse 17: Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
That’s a good note on which we end our study of First Timothy chapter one, and I trust that you’ve learned a little bit about the Scriptures. The final reading we make today is a doxology. A doxology is a hymn of praise, and it is part of how the early church worshiped God. You will find these hymns of praise are quoted many times in several parts of the New Testament. A doxology talks about God’s nature, and then it discusses what is due to God because of His nature.
So I’ll go through what the doxology says. There are five things that it states about God’s nature and then two things that we must do for God because of His nature. Let’s look at the five. The five things are:
1. God is King. God is the ruler of the universe. That fact is very strong in our Christian faith: God is the ruler of the universe, the ruler of the heavens and the earth, and He is majestic in power; His word rules.
2. Second, God is eternal. He has no beginning and He has no end. For us human beings, it’s very difficult to conceptualize anything that has no beginning and no end because in our human existence everything has a beginning and everything has an end. But the source of all things has no beginning and has no end; He is eternal. He exists forever. So God is King, God is eternal, and that is why sometimes we think God takes time because He lives in eternity while we live in time.
3. The third thing it says about God is that He is immortal. He never dies; God lives forever. That is something we have to understand: even when men die, God is still alive. You may not have people with you, but God will always be with you because He is immortal. So He is King, He is eternal, and He is immortal.
4. Number four: God is invisible. We cannot see Him, but many times we wish that God would just show Himself to us and we say, «God, if You just show Yourself to us, we will believe.» But if you look at the children of Israel, what did they not see? They saw the Red Sea open; they had food from God; they saw the mountain quaking, and yet they still doubted God. Physical signs do not by themselves promote faith. We have faith in an invisible God, an unseen God, and that’s what faith is all about.
5. Finally, it states that He is the only wise God. That means when you put all the wisdom of the earth together, God is superior to it. There is no being and nothing that is wiser than God. There will be no computer ever invented that is smarter than God; He is the only wise God.
Two statements are made about what is due God because He is all of these. It says we give God honor, which means we give Him value; we value Him. Then we give Him glory, which means we give Him the highest acclaim and the highest accolade. That is why when we worship Him, we say, «Lord, You are good! Lord, You are mighty! Lord, You are awesome!» That is giving Him glory and honor because He is King, He is eternal, He is immortal, He’s invisible, and He’s the only wise God. Because of that, we worship Him and honor Him for who He is and what He has become to us.
Let’s pray together. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, You are the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God. I give You honor and glory forever and ever. In Jesus' name, Amen and amen. God bless you, and thank you for staying this week with me as we study First Timothy chapter one. Tomorrow we start another study. I’m Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.