We prefer to climb up to God through argument, experience, and activity. But God has climbed down to us, meeting us not in the "high places" we erect, but in the lowest places: in a barn, suffering our scorn, fellowshipping with sinners, and hanging on a cross. We don't ascend from particulars to universals. Rather, the source of all universal truth has descended to us in the concrete particulars of human history.
There is no passable route from us to God. We cannot climb the ladder of mysticism, speculation, or merit. In pride, we try to rise to heaven through reason, but God descends to us in humility and self-sacrificial generosity. We seek the truth within ourselves or in universal laws derived from our moral intuition, but God surprises us -- and his name is Jesus.
-- Michael Horton
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