God's Belongings

"...careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord." (I Corinthians 7: 32)

"Belong" means "suitable" and "appropriate" or "the property of a person or thing" or "an attribute, part, adjunct, or function of a person or thing."

There are things that naturally belong to the Deity and to none else; and though creatures may possess many of these same things, yet they retain their nature as gifts from the Almighty, with whom they originate. The Christian is one who is very much interested in the "things that belong to the Lord."

"The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." (Deuteronomy 29: 29)

Even the "revealed things" of Lord God were once "secret things," belonging only to Lord God; but, when he gave revelation of his secrets, they then became a belonging and possession of the creature, in a borrowed and limited way.

All knowledge and truth are the belongings of Lord God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the Eternal Spirit. "In whom (Christ) are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 2: 3)

Christians are eager to find and enjoy this divine "treasure," this heavenly wisdom and knowledge. He "cares for" those things that "belong unto the Lord." He "cares for" little else really.

Certainly, to "care about" those things that "belong unto the Lord" will cause one to "care about" many things. He certainly "cares about" those things that Lord God has "revealed" in his written word.

"God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God." (Psalm 62: 11)

What about you? Have you heard this great truth? Do you know that all power and authority does rightly and appropriately belong to Lord God and to him alone?

"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. " (Romans 13: 1)

Power, whether it be sheer might, or whether it be authority and rule, it is all the rightful possession of Lord God. "The shields of the earth belong unto God: he is greatly exalted." (Psalm 47: 9)

Not only does all wisdom and knowledge, all power and authority, all the shields of the earth, belong unto the Lord, but also righteousness, and holiness, and justice.

"O LORD, righteousness belongeth unto thee" (Daniel 9: 7).

The Euthyphro dilemma is found in Plato's dialogue Euthyphro, in which Socrates asks Euthyphro: "Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?"

In Christian terms the question is phrased - "Is what is moral commanded by God because it is moral, or is it moral because it is commanded by God?"

If righteousness (what is right) belongs to Lord God, then it is not something independent of him. Something is right because God commands it, it being "right" is not due to something in the thing itself, outside of God, but it is right because God commands it; and Lord God commands it because it pleases him, and it pleases him because it conforms to his divine nature.

"Unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death" (Psalm 68: 20).

The power of death truly "belongs" to Lord God. Yes, Hebrews 2: 14 does say - "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil."

But, such "power of death" does not "belong" to the Devil originally or as it does to Lord God. Lord God has simply conferred the administration of this "power of death" over to Satan and evil angels.

"He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them." (Psalm 78: 39)

"God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem" (Judges 9: 23).

"But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him." (I Samuel 16: 14)

Lord God sends the "angel of death," the proverbial "Grim Reaper" with his scythe engaged in harvesting souls by taking them in death. Death, like all suffering, and grief, and woe, is the result of Lord God's judgment upon sinners, is an act of vengeance.

"To me, says Lord God, "belongeth vengeance and recompence" (Deuteronomy 32: 35).

"O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself." (Psalm 94: 1)

Vengeance does not rightly belong to any creature. Lord God has delegated the excecution of his wrath and vengeance to both angels and men, but it does not properly belong to them, but to him alone. There is coming a day when all shall know the full force of this vengeance. Thank God we also have it recorded that -

"Salvation belongeth unto the LORD" (Psalm 3: 8). And,

"Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy" (Psalm 62: 12). And,

"To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him." (Daniel 9: 9)

Friend, do you, by faith, "belong to Christ" (Mark 9: 41)? Have you come to Lord God through his Son Jesus, to whom "belongs salvation"?