Chapter 4

God

What is He Like?

No one can come to have true knowledge about God simply by searching or by reasoning. He must turn to the only real source of true knowledge about God, the Bible. God clearly declares to be speaking in the Scriptures and therein gives us information about Himself that we cannot find elsewhere. In this chapter we will examine the nature of God, including His natural and moral qualities, which some like to call His perfections.

The Nature of God

God is spirit — One of the first things we must understand about God is that He is spirit. In John's Gospel, Jesus discussed with the Samaritan woman where and how to worship God:

John 4:23-24
23 "… an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
24 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

God is a Trinity — The entire previous chapter was about the trinitarian nature of God. It is very much an essential part of what He is like. One important passage we did not discuss from the Old Testament is found in Zechariah; it refers to the pierced Lord. I believe its wording is unique in all the Scripture. It is a very interesting prophecy concerning the second coming of Christ. God is speaking and says, "And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him" (Zechariah 12:10). How very important this verse is! The chapter is a declaration of "the Lord who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him" (Zechariah 12:1). It is the Lord God who is saying, "they will look on Me whom they have pierced."

Notice something very different about this verse. Right in the middle of the sentence the pronoun is changed from "Me" to "Him." It reads, "they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him." This verse is a beautiful Old Testament illustration of the fact that while the Lord is one, He was to come in the flesh and be pierced with a sword.

The fulfillment of this prophecy is shown to us in the New Testament book of Revelation. The Apostle John wrote about the second coming of Jesus Christ to earth, "Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. Even so. Amen" (Revelation 1:7). Zechariah's prophecy made over 500 years before Christ will be fulfilled at least 2,500 years after it was written. It will not be long, if I understand prophecy correctly, before this verse will literally come to pass.

God is the Source of Life — In John 4:24 quoted above, Jesus declared that God is spirit. But not only is God spirit, He is a living, personal spirit being. Jeremiah 10:10 says, "the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King." In Revelation 4:8-11, the heavenly creatures worship God as "Him who lives forever and ever."

Not only is He a living God, but He is the one who gives life to all things. Within His very being is the essence and source of life. Paul wrote to Timothy, "I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things" (1 Timothy 6:13). Everything that has life, including you and me, owes its life to God.

God is the Supreme Being — Not only is the living God an eternal, life-giving spirit, He is also the only Supreme Being. By definition the word "supreme" allows only one God without equal, above and beyond all other so-called gods. God was quoted by the prophet Isaiah in 44:6 as saying, "I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me."

In the New Testament, Paul makes a similar statement about God where he wrote,

1 Corinthians 8:4-6
4 Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one.
5 For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords,
6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.

Thus, there are declarations, both in the Old and New Testaments, that God is one supreme God.

His Intrinsic Abilities

Now, let's look at the attributes of God's nature as expressed in His being. First, we will deal with intrinsic abilities known as His non-moral nature. His moral nature will be discussed later.

God Is All-Knowing (Omniscient) — The Bible teaches that God knows everything about all things. He knows everything about you and me. Proverbs 5:21 says, "the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He watches all his paths." And Proverbs 15:3 says, "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and the good." In the New Testament, Hebrews 4:13 says, "there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Yes, God knows every word, thought, and deed of all His creatures.

God Is All-Powerful (Omnipotent) — God also has all power in heaven and on earth. For that reason He is called the Almighty God. The Lord said to Abraham in Genesis 18:14, "Is anything too difficult for the Lord?" In Job 42:2, Job answered the Lord and said, "I know that Thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of Thine can be thwarted."

God Is Present Everywhere (Omnipresent) — Not only does God know all things and is all-powerful, but He is also present everywhere at all times. There is no place one can flee from Him, for He is there. In Jeremiah, God said:

Jeremiah 23:23-24
23 "Am I a God who is near," declares the Lord, "And not a God far off?
24 "Can a man hide himself in hiding places, so I do not see him?" declares the Lord.
"Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?" declares the Lord.

God is present with both you and me even though we may be separated by a great distance.

God Is without Beginning and without End (Eternal) — Paul wrote in praise of God: "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen" (1Timothy 1:17). Habakkuk asked the question, "Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, my Holy One?" (Habakkuk 1:12). One of many places where that question is answered is Psalm 90:2: "Even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God." We have difficulty with this concept because everything in our experience had a beginning.

God Does Not Change (Immutable) — One of the most comforting things about God is that He does not change. He is perfection itself. If He were to change, He would become less than perfect. Because He is perfect, He will not change. He Himself proclaimed, "For I, the Lord, do not change" (Malachi 3:6). James 1:17 says, "Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow." We can always count on God because He does not change His mind from one minute to the next. He is completely reliable.

His Intrinsic Moral Character

The moral attributes of God that express His character are also shown to us in the Word of God.

God is Holy — Perhaps the most outstanding characteristic to us is God's holiness, because it stands out in sharp contrast to what we know of human nature. God is absolutely holy – He is without sin. Peter exhorts us to holy living because God is holy:

1 Peter 1:15-16
15 … like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior;
16 because it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."

God is Righteous — Jesus called Him "righteous Father" in His prayer in John 17:25. Righteousness is a direct result of being innately holy. Because God is holy, He will always do the right thing. It is very reassuring and comforting to know that the God of all the earth always does the right thing without fail. We can say with Abraham, "Far be it from Thee to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from Thee! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?" (Genesis 18:25).

God Is Faithful — God always keeps His word. He is faithful to His own nature and to His people. Again, He never fails to keep His promises to mankind. Paul wrote, "If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself" (2Timothy 2:13). He is also faithful to provide us a way of escape from temptation: "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it" (1Corinthians 10:13).

God Is Merciful — Mercy is God showing His goodness, compassion, and love toward those who are in distress and/or deserve punishment. Someone has said, "What we need is mercy, not justice!" If we were to be judged and sentenced solely on the basis of justice every one of us would be in trouble! Actually, both justice and mercy are essential and God's nature meets both needs for mankind. The great psalmist of the Old Testament, King David, spoke of the mercy of God. He wrote: "But Thou, O Lord, art a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth" (Psalm 86:15). And in Psalm 145:8 he wrote, "The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger and great in lovingkindness." Jesus instructed us: "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful" (Luke 6:36).

God Is Loving — The most famous verse in all the Bible expresses the love of God for a lost world: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). The Apostle John tells us: "The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1John 4:8).

Make It Personal

As believers we can be at peace knowing God is sovereign and is absolutely good. We may rest with absolute confidence in His ability and in His willingness to help us, because, on the one hand, He is all powerful, and on the other hand, He is loving and merciful. Praise God, for there is none in Heaven or on earth who can be compared with the perfection of our God. It does not matter what your personal need may be, He is more than adequate to meet it.

Ephesians 2:4-5
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).

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