The Attributes of God

“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:3).

I have been re-reading A.W. Tozer’s The Attributes of God. If this volume, and the accompanying Volume Two, will not put Christians on their faces in absolute awe of our thrice-holy God, I do not know what will.

For many years, I enjoyed the friendship of an English evangelist named Leonard Ravenhill. Our relationship began when I wrote to him regarding an article he had written for a national Christian publication The Banner of Truth. To my surprise and delight, Leonard responded to my letter. That correspondence eventually culminated in an invitation to visit him at his home in Lindale, Texas. On more than one occasion, while Leonard and I visited in his study, his wife Martha kept us supplied with English shortbread and “Tommy Lipton’s” tea.

During one of those visits, he spoke of his friendship with A.W. Tozer and of his visits to Tozer’s office when he was the pastor of Southside Alliance Church in Chicago. Leonard told me a story from one of those visits—a story that helps explain the man’s incredible awe of God.

On one occasion, Leonard noticed a small throw rug rolled up and lying on the floor of Tozer’s study. When he asked about it, Tozer told him it was his prayer rug. That led to an enlightening account of Tozer’s relationship with God.

Tozer told Leonard that there were days when he would come to his study and feel an overwhelming desire to be in the presence of the Lord. He would then call his secretary and tell her she could have the rest of the day off and to please lock the doors when she left.

He would unroll his prayer rug and lie down on it—on his belly, with his face to the floor. In this posture, he told Leonard, “I do not pray, I do not praise, I worship.” He would fix his mind on an attribute of God and worship Him for that attribute. And there he would remain, sometimes for hours at a time.

“I do not pray, I do not praise, I worship,” said A.W. Tozer. Out of that intimate relationship with his Lord, Tozer penned scores of books. The Pursuit of God is his first and best-known spiritual treatise. The Divine Conquest presents the Christian life in terms of the Holy Spirit’s inward conquest of the personality. The Knowledge of the Holy presents Tozer’s doctrine of God in devotional form, treating divine attributes as realities meant to restore reverence, worship, and spiritual seriousness. The Pursuit of God and The Knowledge of the Holy emphasize holiness, contemplative prayer, reverence, self-denial, death to self, and conscious awareness of the presence of God. The Attributes of God was first preached as a series of Sunday sermons while Tozer pastored in Chicago. Tozer passed away on May 12, 1963. In 1987, David Fessenden compiled the notes from those sermons and published them as The Attributes of God, Volumes 1 and 2.

Tozer’s books are the writings of a man who spent hours in the throne room of God. Then, much like Christ and the three disciples descending from the Mount of Transfiguration, he would return to the valley, where—from his pulpit and his pen—he shared what he had received in his Lord’s presence.

Tozer’s writings are often disarming to 21st-century Christians, whose knowledge of God is often reduced to, “Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” His sermons and writings come straight from the heart of Jesus, who said to His followers, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).

Sadly, much of today’s Christian teaching lacks emphasis on personal holiness, contemplative prayer, reverence, self-denial, death to self, and conscious awareness of the presence of God.

Reading Tozer will likely ruffle your religious sensibilities, but if you stay with him, he will lead you to behold the face of God. And like Isaiah—when he came face to face with the One who is holy, holy, holy, and cried out, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5)—his sin was then purged, and he was called into the service of the thrice-holy One.

In 1922, Helen Lemmel wrote these words to a timeless hymn: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full into His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” My friend, the writings of A.W. Tozer will help you desire to look into His Wonderful Face.