September 9, 2013 FB
Intro
"Theology" is the study of things to do with God. "Theology Proper" is the study about God himself. The foremost rule for our study is that we will only use the Bible as our source of information. No system of theology or worldview will be consulted or noted. We will only be concerned with what the Bible says about God.
Our study will concern God's nature and his character. The nature of God will concern the kind of being that God is. The character of God will concern the kind of Person he is and how he relates to his creation. Hopefully this study will produce a reverence for God, a humbling of ourselves, and give us a richer relationship with the Lord.
I. God is a person and He can be known
(A) God is a person. The essential and mandatory elements that make a person a person are three things: (1) a will (the ability to choose/act), (2) intellect (the ability to reason), and (3) emotion (feelings about things). If God is a person then he must have all three elements.
All three elements are found in Ephesians 1:9:
"He made known to us the mystery of His will (will), according to His kind intention (emotion) which He purposed (intellect) in Him."
According to this verse, God is indeed a person, not a feeling nor a state of being nor a higher level of consciousness. Furthermore, on every page of the bible we see all three elements, in one way or another, in God. We cannot read the bible without seeing God as a being with personhood.
(B) God can be known. "The Lord has made Himself known..." (Psalm 9:16)
While there are things about God that our finite minds will never understand (Ps. 145:3, Rom. 11:33), in this verse and others (Ps. 77:14; 98:2; 111:6, Isa. 66:14, etc) we are told that God has nevertheless revealed himself to mankind in ways that we are able to understand. This verse implies that we cannot know him apart from him revealing himself because he is too great. Furthermore, the verse denotes that he has given us true knowledge of himself, not erroneous knowledge. In other words, he hasn't given us a false or slightly skewed view of himself, but a view of him as he really is.
Jesus spoke of the bible as the source of true knowledge of himself (John 5:39, 46; Luke 24:27). So the bible is also the source of knowing Jesus.
Application: The Lord God desires us to know him as he truly is. Otherwise he would not have revealed himself to us. Therefore we should seek to know him as he has truthfully revealed himself in his word.
II. God is solitary
"To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?" (Isaiah 40:18)
"Whatever the Lord pleases, He does, In heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps." (Psalm 135:6)
The word "solitary" has the sense of uniqueness but not uniqueness in relation to a group. It has the idea of aloneness and seclusion. It means that God alone is like Himself, and no created being has an existence like His.
So this attribute has to do with God's unique self-life. It includes (1) his self-existence (aseity), (2) his self-sufficiency and (3) his independence. Basically it means that God is different than all of his creation, there is nothing and no one like him. In fact, he is the opposite of his creation.
(1) God's self-existence. God had no beginning and he will have no end. He is an uncaused cause. Therefore his existence is in himself. "I AM WHO I AM" says God (Ex. 3:14, literally: to be). Furthermore, God's uncaused existence is not necessitated by the contingent nature of his creation. God exists with or without his creation.
(2) God's self-sufficiency. God needs nothing (Acts 17:24-25). Within himself he is sufficient. There is nothing that anything or anyone can add to or provide for God. He did not need to create anything to provide for something himself. He was never, and will never be deficient in any area. He is complete and satisfied in himself.
(3) God's independence (Ps. 135:6; Isa. 40:13-14; Rom. 11:34-35). God does whatever he pleases and does not consult anyone. He alone decides what he will do. God "works all things after the counsel of His will" (Eph. 1:11). He is free to do whatever he wants according to his nature. He is not obligated to anything or anyone in his creation unless he first initiates the obligation.
Application: We are totally reliant on God. He is not obligated to serve us but we are obligated to love, glorify, and serve him.
III. God is eternal and he is unchanging
"The eternal God..." (Deut. 33:27)
"For I, the Lord, do not change..." (Mal. 3:6)
(A) God is eternal (Gen. 21:33; Ps. 90:2; Isa. 43:13; Rom. 16:26; 1 Tim. 1:17). God exists without relation to time. He is outside time, in fact he is time-less. God is existing and is engaged in this very moment and at this same moment he is simultaneously existing and engaging in all other moments past and future, and even in all "moments" outside of time. But that doesn't mean God is somehow stuck in one moment himself watching all our moments. No, for God there is no time.He freely acts and moves in eternity outside of time as he pleases. It is impossible for us to comprehend totally but it is true. From the beginning of time, to this moment, to the end of time God is currently existing and engaging all simultaneously.
A ramification of God's eternalness is that he is also ageless. He is neither young nor old, he just is. He has no age.
(B) God is unchanging (immutable)(Mal. 3:6; Jas. 1:17). Because God is eternal, it means that he stays the same and never changes. This means that both (1) God's nature and (2) his character never change. Nothing in God's nature changes. He will always be self-sufficient, omnipresent, omniscient,etc. Nothing about God's character changes. He will always be loving, just, holy, etc.
Because God is immutable it means that he does not grow nor does he learn, for that would involve a change in his essential being. This implies that it is impossible for God grow or learn because he is already perfect. Only an imperfect being would need to grow and learn, thereby changing. But God is perfect and therefore unchanging.
Application: God is always involved in our lives. He is with us right at this moment, and right now he is also with us in our past and he is with us in our future, working on bringing us to himself. Our response should be to seek Him and to obey him.
IV. God is infinite and He is triune
"Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You..." (1 Kings 8:27)
"Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!" (Deut. 6:4)
(A) God is infinite. Infinite means limitless. The idea of God being limitless is is found in 1 Kings 8:27 and Acts 17:24-28. But God is more than just limitless. God's infinitude is literally beyond our understanding. Our minds are finite and by their very nature cannot fully grasp infinitude. We can only understand the idea, but not comprehend the actual. Furthermore, we can only properly describe it in negative terms.
We could try to say that all the attributes of God's nature and his character are not just unlimited in a static fashion, but in a kinetic fashion. In other words, God's attributes are not just too big for us to understand but they are continually growing or expanding without end at an infinite rate. Yet here we run into a problem, for saying that God's attributes are growing implies a beginning, but there is no beginning to God or his attributes. Furthermore, God is immutable, meaning he cannot change. So we can't say that God's attributes are growing because God is already complete and perfect.
It boils down to this: God and his attributes are eternally unlimited and measureless, period.
A further truth is that God is the one and only infinite being. If there were two infinite beings then they would both be limited by the other's unlimitedness. If one were to make a decision or action, it would then affect the other thereby setting a limit for the other. So two infinite beings cannot exist simultaneously. Therefore our eternal God is the only infinite being.
Due to God's infinitude, he has supreme greatness (greatness in the sense of magnitude, superiority). God has the greatest amount of freedom since he is not limited by creation. He has the greatest amount of reason so he is not bound by rules of logic. He is unlimited in his choices and imagination so he can literally create anything to reach his decisions. He has the greatest emotions so his love, pity, joy, anger, etc. are so intense that they are beyond measure.
God is greater than his creation. He is not limited by heaven so he can freely decide and act without regard to the spirit world. He is greater than matter so he can manipulate it however he wishes (ie. miracles). He is greater than space so he can control every galaxy in the universe. And finally, he is greater than time so he can accomplish his plans in creation and mankind without being limited by any particular person, people, or era.
(B) God is triune. God is a triune being. This means he is three distinct persons in one person. This truth breaks the laws of logic but it is nonetheless true. Keep in mind that God is eternal, immutable, and infinite so he is beyond logic.
The Old Testament clearly teaches that there is only one God. "The Lord is one," (Deut. 6:4) and "I am the Lord,and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God" (Isa. 45:5-6).
However, most times the OT uses the word "God" it is in the plural form; Elohim. In the original Hebrew language, any time the suffix "im" appears at the end of a word it is plural. Furthermore, it is plural with at least three in view. So Elohim is plural for "God." Also there are times in the OT when God talks to himself as if he were plural (Gen. 1:26; 3:22; 11:6-7; Isa. 6:8).
Deuteronomy 6:4 contains both truths in the original Hebrew language. "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!" (Deut. 6:4). The word "Lord" is the Hebrew wordYHWH, or Yahweh, and it is singular. It means "to be" and it speaks of God's self-existence. So in the verse it refers to Elohim (pural, God) as the one Yahweh (singular, Lord).
The New Testament also affirms both the singleness and plurality of God but adds some clarity to the plurality.
The NT tells us "that there is no God but one." (1 Cor. 8:4-6. See also Eph. 4:3-6; Jas. 2:19).
Yet the NT also sees the Father as God (John 6:27; 1 Pet. 1:2), Jesus the Son as God (John 1:1-3; Col.1:13-17) and the Holy Spirit as God (Acts 5:3-4). What's more, they all appear together at the same time together during the baptism of Jesus (Matt. 3:16-17; Mk. 1:9-11; Lk. 3:21-22).
So all three members of the trinity exist simultaneously and all are God. Each one is eternal, immutable, and infinite. Each one has their own will, intellect and emotions. Yet they are all one person.
Many great thinkers have tried to reconcile the logical difficulty of God being three persons and at the same time just one person, but no theory is adequate to harmonize both truths. Let me be the first to reveal the truth of the matter, but let's keep it just between us... I have absolutely no clue how to figure it out. Neither does anyone else. God is beyond logic so it's best to affirm both truths and not try to reconcile the triunity of the infinite God with our finite minds.
Application: We are limited but God is not. We may achieve great heights with our knowledge. We may have mountain top experiences of emotion. We may make a glorious world for ourselves. Yet for all our accomplishments and experiences we are limited and measurable. God on the other hand is so infinitely far above us that at our greatest we are but a speck of dust in comparison. He is so great that he cannot be measured. God's infinitude should humble our proud hearts and cause us to look to him as the final authority and rely on him alone for our lives, for "with God all things are possible." (Matt. 19:26)
When the bible speaks of God as "the Almighty" it is denoting his infinite power and strength (Gen. 28:3; 43:14; Job 11:7; Ps. 91:1; Joel 1:15; Rev. 11:17; etc.). Anything he wants to do he is also able to do and nothing can limit or restrain his strength (1 Sam. 14:6; Job 9:1-12; 11:10). However, the use of his power is restricted by God's other attributes (ie. faithfulness. See 2 Tim. 2:13). So God cannot use his unlimited strength to act outside his character.
Furthermore, God sometimes restrains himself from using his power. Therefore, he alone decides how to use his power. No created being can coerce or manipulate God to use his power (1 Cor. 2:16). Whatever God wants to do he does, and whatever he doesn't want to do he doesn't do (Ps. 135:6).
(B) God is Creator. God's power is seen in his ability to create. "Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power" (Jer. 32:17).
Try this: Right now say out loud, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures." My guess is nothing happened when you spoke the words. When God spoke those words animals came into existence (Gen. 1:24-25). Whereas they did not exist before, now they do. God commanded the earth to do it by just speaking with his voice and the earth immediately obeyed.
God created all the angels (Ps. 148:2, 5) including Satan and the other angels who fell (demons), and all the stars and planets and the earth and everything in them (Gen. 1).
Because God created the universe and everything in it, he rightfully possesses ownership over all creation. In Psalm 50:12 God says, "...the world is Mine, and all it contains" (see also Ex. 19:5; Job 41:11; Ps. 50:10-12). God also claims ownership of our souls (Ezek. 18:4).
God can do what he pleases with his creation. If he wants to break the laws of nature and/or logic to do a miracle then, not only does he have the right to do it because he owns creation, but Almighty God also has more than enough power to do it.
A final point to consider about this attribute is that, because God alone retains ownership and power over creation, he also possesses control over all of it (Ps. 135:6). This means that nothing can happen in creation without him allowing it or directly controlling it. He controls the seasons and the weather (Ps. 107:24-29; Jer. 5:24; Ezek. 34:26). Animals get their food because he is in control (Ps. 104:24-28). You and I live or die because he alone says so: "See now that I, I am He, and there is no god besides Me; it is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded and it is I who heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand" (Deut. 32:39). He sets the laws of creation and we have no choice but to be under those laws, regardless of how we feel about it.
Application: As we begin to grasp these truths, our first reaction should be a tremendous humbling of ourselves and a great awe for the Almighty God. A further reaction should be reverent gratitude for his provision in our lives. We should realize that God is powerful enough to overcome ANY difficulty in our lives if it is his will to do so. This realization should fill us with overflowing praise to him for his mighty power!
"Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?" (Jer. 32:27)
VI. God is everywhere-present and he is faithful
"Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me." (Psalm 139:7-10)
(A) God is everywhere-present (omnipresent). This attribute means that God is present in all places with his whole being at the same time. This is not pantheism which says that the universe is God and that God is everything in the universe. As we have already seen, the bible teaches that God is a person, he is limitless (infinite), and he is Creator. So creation cannot contain him and he is separate and distinct from his creation.
God is spirit (John 4:24), so he is not limited to the physical realm or to any physical space. God is wholly present both in heaven and in the universe at the same time.
Since God is spirit, we shouldn't think of him as simply too big for us to measure. He is not larger than creation, nor is he infinitely spatial in all directions. To say that God cannot be measured means that God has no size or dimensions by which to measure him.
The unfathomable truth is that, not only is God present in every place at the same time, he is also present with his whole being. In other words, God's presence is not spread over the whole universe so that part of his presence is here and part of it is there. And neither is he split into infinitely smaller versions of himself in order to be present everywhere. Remember, to think ofGod as having size or dimensions is to misunderstand the concept. The truth is that God is fully present with his whole being, not just part, in every place, and without spatial dimensions.
God's omnipresence is complimentary to his eternalness. Because God is eternal, he is present outside time so he sees every moment simultaneously. However, since God is omnipresent he is also present inside time, at every place in time, at the same time. So there is nothing that happens in the universe where God is not there. He is present at every moment in history and in every person's life.
We must note that the immediacy (quality, condition) of his omnipresence is varied. God is present on his throne in heaven (Rev. 4:2; Ps. 16:11) in a different condition than the one in which he is present in hell (Rev. 14:9-10). Likewise, he is present in the life of a believer (Gal. 3:20; Rom. 8:9) in a different way than he is present in the life of an unbeliever (Job 13:16). The original languages of the bible use different words for our word "presence." So just because God is present everywhere doesn't mean he is present in the same way, or condition, everywhere. God may focus attention on particular places but he never abandons a place or places in order to do so.
(B) God is faithful. Here we come in our study to the first attribute of God's character. Omnipresence is only concerned with God's presence in his creation. Faithfulness is concerned with God's commitment to his creation. Because God is present everywhere he is close enough to be faithful. His faithfulness is seen in two categories: (1) General and (2) special.
(1) General faithfulness. This is God's commitment to provide needs for his creation.
"All His work is done in faithfulness" (Psalm 33:4). He is faithful to sustain the existence of the universe (Psalm 119:90), he is faithful to fulfill his plans (Isa. 25:1), he is faithful to provide weather for the earth (Ps. 147:7-8, 15-18), he is faithful to provide food, shelter, and natural joys for every living thing (Ps. 104:10-17; 147:9), and he is faithful to execute justice on mankind (Ps. 54:4-5; 96:13). This means that God will not annihilate or abandon creation or his plans for it and us just because he may become discontent with us. He will faithfully judge each person. Included in God's general faithfulness would be his provision to make eternal salvation available for mankind (Ps. 98:2; Acts 4:12; Titus 2:11).
(2) Special faithfulness. This is God's commitment to provide for his elect only.
Unlike God's omnipresence and general faithfulness, his special faithfulness does not extend to the unsaved. While God did faithfully make eternal salvation available for all people, there is a special way in which he is faithful to those who receive his salvation.
God is faithful to complete the work he begins in the lives of each one of his elect (Phil. 1:6), he is faithful to provide ways out of temptations (1 Cor. 10:13), he is faithful to keep his elect saved (John 10:28-29), he is faithful to forgive and cleanse the sins of the elect (1 John 1:9), and he is faithful to not forsake his elect when they are unfaithful to him (2 Tim. 2:13: Heb. 13:5). Included in God's special faithfulness is a distinct faithfulness to the nation of Israel. Most of the Old Testament (ie. Deut. 4:31; 31:6-8; 1 Kings6:13; Neh. 9:6-33; Isa. 49:14-15; Jer. 32:36-42; the book of Hosea, etc.) and even some of the New Testament (ie. Romans 9-11) portray this in one way or another. God says, "I will not forsake My people Israel" (1 Kings 6:13).
Application: God's omnipresence means he is near. He is right there when we sin and he is right there when we obey. He isn't too far away to hear or to be involved. He is faithfully working his plans out in our lives to bring us away from sin and closer to himself.
When we understand how near and faithful God is to us, we must ask ourselves how faithful we are to him. Do we neglect spending time with him? Do we willfully sin knowing that he is present? Do we try to live in our own strength and neglect him when he is present to help? God's nearness and faithfulness should affect our behavior. Knowing that the Holy God is present should deter us from sinning. We should go to him when we are weak and/or worried. We should serve him with boldness knowing he's with us. We should thank and praise him for his faithfulness.
Almighty God is near and he is ever faithful!
VII. God is all-knowing and he is wise
"Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!" (Rom. 11:33)
(A) God is all-knowing (omniscient). This attribute stems from God's eternalness and omnipresence. God knows perfectly (1) all facts, (2) all actual events and decisions, and (3) all possible events and decisions.
(1) Firstly, God has complete knowledge of all facts. He knows everything about the universe and people. He knows everything from the number and names of all stars (Ps. 147:4) to the number of hairs on each head (Matt. 10:30). As Creator, God also knows about the unseen things in our universe (ie. building blocks of creation, laws of thermodynamics, etc.).
(2) Secondly, because he is outside time, he sees all of history simultaneously, and he sees every single moment with perfect clarity. God knows everything that actually happens in the universe from the very first day and moment of history until the very last day and moment (Isa. 46:9-10). He also knows everything that happens in every individual person's life (Ps. 139:16). Lastly, God's knows our hearts comprehensively. He knows every sin (Ps. 69:5), every desire (Ps. 38:9), and even every thought (Gen. 6:5; 1 Chron. 28:9; Ps. 94:11; 139:2), and "...God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil" (Eccl. 12:14).
(3) Thirdly, another amazing truth we observe about God in Scripture is that he not only knows what things actually happen in history, he also knows everything that could potentially happen in history. Every potential variation of possibility and every possible effect of the choices that people might make. He knows them all. This is implicitly seen in God's warning to Cain: "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door" (Gen. 4:7). God knew Cain would do wrong, but he also knew what would happen if he did right. We see the same thing in several places in the bible when God tells people what will happen if they made certain decisions (ie. Abimelech in Gen. 21:6-7, Moses in Ex. 4:8-9, etc.). For God, all of the infinite possibilities are as real as the actual. Therefore God does not learn since he already knows everything. Neither does he forget since he knows all simultaneously and currently. He has complete and total knowledge in perfect clarity, and astonishingly, everything He knows He has known for all eternity!
Consequently, God is able to tell mankind our future accurately. The accuracy of the prophecies in the bible are astounding. God foretells of specific dates (ie. Dan. 9:24-27), names of people (Isa. 44:28-45:3), and events (ie. Deut. 28:36-30:9) years before their fulfillment (sometimes thousands of years).
Because God's knowledge is infinite and eternal, he knows perfectly and completely everything that exists and will exist, everything that actually does happen and everything that could potentially happen in the universe and earth, in history, in individual lives, and in individual thoughts.
(B) God is wise. Making decisions requires reasoning from a standpoint of moral values. To reach a decision one must weigh all the options to find the best one. To determine the value of "best," an appeal to a moral judgement must be made. God knows categorically right from wrong (Gen. 3:5, 22) so he is able to make supremely wise decisions. This is seen in two ways: (1) God's plans and (2) his prescriptions.
(1) God's plans. He knows what he should do (Job 12:13). Since God knows every potential thing that could happen in the universe and in our lives (omniscience), he also knows how to best work providentially (means) to bring about the best result (end) in our lives and in creation.
When we look at our world and our history and our lives, it may not look like God has chosen the best way to do things but he has. He has wisely chosen the best means to accomplish his will in the world. Remember, God knows the best result (omniscience) and, since he is wise, he is moving things to that end in the best possible way. This means that God never makes a mistake in the way he chooses to do things because he always chooses the best way. There is no better way than the way he chooses.
(2) God's prescriptions (Prov. 2:6). He knows what we should do. God has given us wisdom in his word about how we should live our lives (Prov. 24:14) and he will give wisdom to those who ask during trials (Jas. 1:5). In the book of Proverbs God tells us over and over again to seek wisdom and then we are given instructions about how to live our lives and make wise decisions. He tells us how to deal with our spouse (ie. Prov. 5:18; 12:4), with our children (ie. Prov. 13:22), with our friends (ie. Prov. 18:24), with fools (ie. Prov. 13:20), with our employers (ie. Prov. 27:18), etc.
An interesting truth is that God uses mankind to accomplish his plans. Part of the means God uses to reach his ends are our own free decisions.
Here we run into a seeming philosophical dilemma. Namely, that if God uses our decisions to accomplish his plans then we are predestined to make them the way He needs us to; God is the cause and our decisions are the necessary effect (fatalism). This leaves us without freewill. The flip-side is that if we are not predestined then God must decide what he should do based on what we decide; our decisions are the cause and God's reaction is the effect (indeterminism). This wrongly leaves God as a learning responder rather than the all-knowing controller.
The thing to remember is that God is outside time in eternity, yet he is also omnipresent inside time. So his foreknowledge does not clash with our freedom to choose, and our freedom to choose does not hinder God from controlling history.
This principle is seen in Acts 17:26-27: "He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God."
God has put every person where they are in life so that they would seek Him. He controls everything in our lives so that he may cause us to make the decision he wants us to make, yet we freely make the decision. Since he is omniscient, he knows all potential decisions and how to bring about the best decisions without violating our freedom to choose. This is an impossible concept to fully grasp. So when our minds reach their limits we must trust that the infinite God is able to harmonize what we cannot.
Application: Because God knows everything, there is nothing we do that can be hidden from him. He knows every sin. We may forget many of our sins but God never forgets.
He also knows when we obey. There are things that we may do for God that we don't even know we're doing but he does and he remembers (Matt. 10:42).
Now, because God is wise he always makes the right and best decision, so he cannot be argued with (Prov. 21:30) since he makes no mistakes. He knows the right times in our lives to bring blessing and hardship. He knows each one of us completely and he knows how to work in our individual lives to bring us away from sin and closer to him.
How often do we rely on our own wisdom and reject his wisdom? He has given us his word to show us how to best live our lives, yet we continually neglect and reject his wisdom.
However, there do come times in our lives where we cannot understand why things are happening, even when we do rely on biblical wisdom. In those times God knows right where you are and he has wisely brought you to them. He knows when you will come out of them and he knows that trials are necessary to bring you closer to him. Do not lose heart. THERE IS NO REASON TO DOUBT! God never changes. He will never lose his power nor will he ever remove his presence from you. He is always in control! He wisely knows that there are times to restrict blessing and allow hardships and deep pain in order in bring about deeper maturity and intimacy with him. Only trust him!
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones" (Prov. 3:5-8).
VIII. God is holy and he is Judge
"...Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy..." (Rev. 15:3-4)
(A) God is holy. Holiness is God's total separation from sin, and it is also his infinite purity. He alone is infinitely holy (1 Sam. 2:2).
Because God is holy, he is completely separated from all sin. No created being can enter his presence if they have even a single sin on their record. Only a pure and sinless being may have fellowship with God. In fact, his purity is of such intensity that sin cannot survive its presence.
God's holiness is not something that is merely the state of his character. When his holiness is present it is something that is so infinitely powerful that it affects a physical response. God's purity is so intense that it forces anyone near it's presence to cower.
Because God's holiness is infinite, it is impossible to fully comprehend the power of his purity. All we can do is see how people in the bible reacted to it.
Let's look at three reactions to holiness: (1) mankind to the holy angels, (2) the holy angels to Holy God, and (3) mankind to Holy God.
(1) Mankind to the holy angels. The holy angels were created with a limited, yet powerful, measure of holiness. In the bible, when an angel appears to a human being, the first command given is to not be afraid (ie. Luke 1:13, 30; 2:10). Some appearances result with the person wrongly attempting to worship the angel (Rev. 19:10). The limited holiness of angels is powerful enough to cause fear and wrongful worship from people.
(2) The holy angels to Holy God. When the holy angels come into the presence of the almighty, infinite holiness of God, it is so intense that the angels must cover their faces (Isa. 6:1-4). This is not just to pay homage to God. When we read the passages about the angels in heaven (ie. Isa. 6; Ezek. 1) we get the sense that the intensity of God's purity is too much for them to handle without covering themselves (Ezek. 1:11, 24). The angels who minister at God's throne "day and night... do not cease to say, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty'" (Rev. 4:8).
(3) Mankind to Holy God. If the holy angels have to cover their faces from God's infinite holiness then God is true when he says, "you cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live" (Ex. 33:20).
Whenever the Lord appears to people in the bible they immediately fall on their faces in fear (Gen. 17:3; Ezek. 1:28; Acts 9:3-5; Rev. 1:17).
The reason for fear is because we all have sin on our records. God is so pure that his holiness exposes our utter sinfulness and we become fully aware of the vileness of our uncleanness and wickedness (John 3:20). This results in fear because God alone is infinitely holy so sin must be eradicated from his presence. Therefore God is rightfully just to condemn and punish our sin.
The prophet Isaiah experienced the horror of his own sin when he caught a glimpse of God's holiness. This caused him to cry out in panic, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" (Isa. 6:5).
When God's infinitely powerful holiness is near, every created being in heaven, hell, and on earth is forced to bow and grovel before him in fearful obeisance.
A further point to consider is that all of God's moral and emotional attributes emanate from his holiness. His love is holy, his wrath is holy, his joy is holy, his wisdom is holy, his pity is holy, his faithfulness is holy, etc. All of these attributes are totally pure and separate from sin. This means that God alone has the highest beauty, for everything about him is overflowing with infinite purity (Ps. 27:4). It is also for this reason that God alone is full of glory, and he alone must be exalted.
(B) God is Judge. As we have seen in previous studies, God has complete knowledge of every action and every thought (Ps. 139:2). Therefore we can hide nothing from God (Ps. 69:5). We have also seen that, because God is Creator he alone has the right to do whatever he pleases with his creatures (Ps. 135:6).Therefore he has the right to judge humanity (Ps. 66:7). Furthermore, as mentioned above, because God is holy he is rightfully just to condemn and punish sin.
"God is a righteous judge" (Ps. 7:11) "and He will judge the world in righteousness; He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity" (Ps. 9:8). God judges without bias and with perfect accuracy. He gives everyone exactly what they have coming to them. No more and no less.
The bible says God cannot look upon sin with favor (Hab. 1:13). He must punish sin. He judges sin (1) in the nations and (2) in individual people.
(1) God judges the nations. "Arise, O God, judge the earth! For it is You who possesses all the nations" (Ps. 82:8). In this verse and others (Job 12:23; Ps. 9:19; 22:28; 47:8; 67:4; etc.) we see that God judges the nations of the world. They are his possessions so he has the authority to judge them.
(2) God judges individual people. "God will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man" (Eccl. 3:17). "For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil" (Eccl. 12:14).
When God judges the sins of people he does so rightly and without malevolence (Ps. 51:4).
A final point to note is that the second Person of the trinity, Jesus, has been given the authority to judge (Matt. 28:18). "For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son" (John 5:22). So it is our relation to, and standing before Jesus alone that will determine our judgement. We will look at this more in the final study.
Application: We tend to think of God as being so loving that he shouldn't be feared. The truth is that God's love is governed by holiness. He cannot love sin and this should cause us to fear him. When we enter God's presence, we will be exposed to the full evilness of our sin and we will feel the full weight of its condemnation.
God demands holiness from us: "Be holy for I am holy" (Lev. 11:44), and we continually fall short. Yet he is able to purify us so that we can be holy and serve him in reverent obedience. We will see how this is possible in the final study.
Has God purified you? Start obeying him by cutting sin out of your life and by living according to his will.
Because God is Judge, we must get right with him. There is a day coming when you must appear before Jesus for judgement. Since he is Creator and rightfully has authority over you and me, we have no argument that will dissuade him from his judgement. We must take the righteous judgement that he gives because it will be precisely accurate. However, God has given us a way to be pardoned from sin and be holy, and we will see it in the final study.
IX. God's emotions
"In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Ps. 16:11).
Before we finish our theology proper study I'd like to take a brief look at the emotions of God because they are so often misunderstood.
Since God is a person he has emotions. But what are his emotions? Here are some: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Gal. 5:22-23). "The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness" (Ps. 103:8).
God's emotions connect to his nature and they are governed by his character. All of his emotions are (A) infinite, (B) eternal, (C) governed by holiness, and (D) expressed in wisdom.
(A) All of God's emotions are infinite. Because God is limitless (infinite), his emotions are as well. His anger is infinite, his joy is infinite, his love is infinite, etc. When our understanding and experience of God's emotions toward us reach their full limit, he has infinitely more to give but we do not have the capacity to receive. This is why the bible says things like, "At His wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure His indignation" (Jer. 10:10), or "Your lovingkindness is better than life" (Ps. 63:3).
(B) All of God's emotions are eternal/immutable. Since God is eternal, so are his emotions. This means that he is outside time so he always has the same emotional reactions to things. He could never feel happy about our sin, he could never feel angry about our genuine repentance, etc. All his feelings toward things remain the same. Here's just one example: "The lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him" (Ps. 103:17).
(C) All of God's emotions are governed by his holiness. This means that his feelings are never unholy or sinful. Every emotion God has is righteous and undefiled.
So, for example God's wrath is never a loss of self-control nor a reaction to a bruised ego. His anger is always and only a right reaction to sin. Also, his joy is never ok with sin. God cannot take joy in sin, but only in righteousness. Furthermore, his love does not overlook sin. God cannot love sin. He may love every sinner, but his holiness will not allow him to let their sin go unpunished.
(D) All of God's emotions are expressed in wisdom. This does not mean that God's emotions need to be controlled. For example, we cannot say that he has the ability to get so angry that he could sin, but because he is wise he knows to how to control himself. As we've already seen, God's holiness keeps him from having any unrighteous emotions.
The idea here is about how God expresses his feelings. A loving earthly father may want to give his child everything they ask for and protect them from all harm. But God makes his loving decisions for our benefit. And sometimes it means saying "no" in order to bring our maturity and/or repentance, etc. Sometimes that means he allows great anguish of heart and suffering to turn our reliance on him and/or break our selfish will, etc. Sometimes it may mean making us angry in order to align us to the truth.
Another example of wise emotional expressions is that God may be extremely overjoyed about our sincere obedience to him but may hold off his bountiful blessings until he wisely decides the time is right.
All his emotions are expressed wisely.
Application: Our emotions can be sinful. Many times we get angry for the wrong reasons, or we love things we shouldn't, or we get joy from sin, or we are intentionally unkind, etc. Sin affects our emotions constantly, but part of God's working in our lives is to instill godly emotions in us. He wants us to have holy emotions because they are for our benefit (Gal. 5:22-24).
Also, we need to keep in mind that God's emotional reactions never change. They are always correct and he will never allow them to overrule his wisdom. So he won't be angry with you or me when we sincerely obey. He won't allow his love for us to keep us from harm when it is beneficial for us. God never feels the wrong way about any action that we do. He always has the right emotional response.
Lastly, God wisely decides how to express his emotions toward us. Firstly in salvation: "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8).
And finally in abundant blessings given at the right times: "The Lord gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly" (Ps. 84:11).
X. God is Life and he is Savior
"For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself" (John 5:26)
(A) God is Life. "The living God" (Ps. 84:2). We have seen in a previous study that God is self-existent (Ex. 3:14). Meaning that he exists in himself, and he is neither a contingent nor a self-necessitating being. In other words, God's existence is not caused or sustained by another source, nor is it based on the need for him to be self-existent. Therefore God has life in himself. No other created being has their own life in themselves. All are dependent on something other than themselves for life.
Because God is eternal, the life he possesses is also eternal. This means God cannot die, for dying is a temporal event and God is timeless. Therefore God is eternally in a state of being alive (Jer. 10:10)
Furthermore, God's life is pure. God is sinless so his life is unaffected by degradation. He never grows tired or fatigued but is always brimming with infinite energy. He is truly alive in the purest form, without sin (Ps. 42:2).
Another point to consider is that our existence is contingent upon God. In other words, God is what caused us to exist and he is what keeps us existing. If it were not for God giving us physical life we would not exist. God says, "It is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded and it is I who heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand" (Deut. 32:39).
(B) God is Savior. "With You is the fountain of life" (Ps. 36:9). This attribute magnificently displays in all of the previous attributes we've looked at. God is a person who wants us to know him in an intimate way. He has freely decided to reveal himself. God is eternal and wants to give us eternal life with him. God wants us to experience his infinite blessings. Each Person of the triune God wants to be involved in our lives. God created us and uses his almighty power to bring us to himself. God is faithful to make salvation available for us. God knows and chooses the best ways to work in our lives to bring us to himself. God is holy and wants us to be holy, which leads to our problem...
Not one of us is completely pure (Ps. 14:1-3). The bible says "There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one... For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:10-12, 23).
Furthermore, because God is so infinitely pure, and because only an absolutely pure being may enter his presence, there is no way that we could ever be pure enough to enter his presence in heaven. "For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment" (Isa. 64:6).
It gets worse. Because God is the righteous Judge (Ps. 7:11; 96:10, 13) he cannot, and does not let a single sin go unpunished. God says "Behold, all souls are Mine... The soul who sins will die" (Ezek. 18:4). Because we sin, the eternal God has to punish us with eternal death (eternal separation from his holy presence) in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:11-15).
Which leads to God's solution to our problem...
Because God is Life, only people who have eternal and pure life may enter into his presence. God wants us to be with him (John 17:24) so he made a way for us to be pure enough to enter his holy presence.
The second Person of the trinity, the Son, became a human being (Jesus Christ) in order to do what we could not; bring us to God (1 Pet. 3:18). As the headline verse says, the Son has the same life that the Father has (John 5:26): pure and eternal life contained in a human being. It is only this kind of life that may enter heaven.
The bible says that "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8). Jesus stepped into our place and paid our death-penalty. All of our sins have been paid for!
But it gets better! Jesus didn't stay dead. The bible says "that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4). Jesus rose from the dead so that we could have the same pure and eternal life that he has! You see, "if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his" (Rom. 6:5).
So God made a way for us to have pure and eternal life with him and be saved from our sins. But how do we get the salvation God provided? “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). Since nothing that we do can make us pure enough for the infinitely holy God, we must come the way God provided: By trusting only in the living Lord Jesus and his death and resurrection. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live" (John 11:25). "Whoever comes to me I will never cast out" (John 6:37). "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand" (John 10:28).
In order to be saved we must turn away from our sins because they cannot enter God's holy presence, and we must come to the living Lord Jesus and simply and sincerely trust him alone for our salvation.
Application: God has eternal and pure life but you and I have an eternal death sentence to pay. God made a way for us to be saved. Jesus, the second Person of the triune God, sacrificed his life to pay for our sins and rose from the dead to make eternal life available to you and me. Our responsibility is to turn from our sins and receive the living Lord Jesus as our only Savior. Because Jesus is our living Savior, it is our obligation to let him be Lord of our lives. He knows what's best for us, so we should seek his will in all that we do.
"You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart" (Jer. 29:13).
Conclusion
The one and only, eternal, infinite, almighty, faithful, wise, holy, beautiful, triune Lord and Savior alone is worthy of all glory and praise!!
A final Psalm. Psalm 145 wonderfully portrays all of God's attributes that we've seen in this study so I will let the bible have the last word since it is from the bible that we have sought to understand God throughout this study.
Psalm 145
"I will extol You, my God, O King, and I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You, and I will praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of Your majesty and on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.
Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts, and I will tell of Your greatness. They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness and will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.
The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger and great in lovingkindness. The Lord is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works.
All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord, and Your godly ones shall bless You. They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom and talk of Your power; to make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts and the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations.
The Lord sustains all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in due time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
The Lord is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His deeds. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them. The Lord keeps all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy.
My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever."
Nehemiah Ryan © 2013
I. God is a person and He can be known
(A) God is a person. The essential and mandatory elements that make a person a person are three things: (1) a will (the ability to choose/act), (2) intellect (the ability to reason), and (3) emotion (feelings about things). If God is a person then he must have all three elements.
All three elements are found in Ephesians 1:9:
"He made known to us the mystery of His will (will), according to His kind intention (emotion) which He purposed (intellect) in Him."
According to this verse, God is indeed a person, not a feeling nor a state of being nor a higher level of consciousness. Furthermore, on every page of the bible we see all three elements, in one way or another, in God. We cannot read the bible without seeing God as a being with personhood.
(B) God can be known. "The Lord has made Himself known..." (Psalm 9:16)
While there are things about God that our finite minds will never understand (Ps. 145:3, Rom. 11:33), in this verse and others (Ps. 77:14; 98:2; 111:6, Isa. 66:14, etc) we are told that God has nevertheless revealed himself to mankind in ways that we are able to understand. This verse implies that we cannot know him apart from him revealing himself because he is too great. Furthermore, the verse denotes that he has given us true knowledge of himself, not erroneous knowledge. In other words, he hasn't given us a false or slightly skewed view of himself, but a view of him as he really is.
Jesus spoke of the bible as the source of true knowledge of himself (John 5:39, 46; Luke 24:27). So the bible is also the source of knowing Jesus.
Application: The Lord God desires us to know him as he truly is. Otherwise he would not have revealed himself to us. Therefore we should seek to know him as he has truthfully revealed himself in his word.
II. God is solitary
"To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?" (Isaiah 40:18)
"Whatever the Lord pleases, He does, In heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps." (Psalm 135:6)
The word "solitary" has the sense of uniqueness but not uniqueness in relation to a group. It has the idea of aloneness and seclusion. It means that God alone is like Himself, and no created being has an existence like His.
So this attribute has to do with God's unique self-life. It includes (1) his self-existence (aseity), (2) his self-sufficiency and (3) his independence. Basically it means that God is different than all of his creation, there is nothing and no one like him. In fact, he is the opposite of his creation.
(1) God's self-existence. God had no beginning and he will have no end. He is an uncaused cause. Therefore his existence is in himself. "I AM WHO I AM" says God (Ex. 3:14, literally: to be). Furthermore, God's uncaused existence is not necessitated by the contingent nature of his creation. God exists with or without his creation.
(2) God's self-sufficiency. God needs nothing (Acts 17:24-25). Within himself he is sufficient. There is nothing that anything or anyone can add to or provide for God. He did not need to create anything to provide for something himself. He was never, and will never be deficient in any area. He is complete and satisfied in himself.
(3) God's independence (Ps. 135:6; Isa. 40:13-14; Rom. 11:34-35). God does whatever he pleases and does not consult anyone. He alone decides what he will do. God "works all things after the counsel of His will" (Eph. 1:11). He is free to do whatever he wants according to his nature. He is not obligated to anything or anyone in his creation unless he first initiates the obligation.
Application: We are totally reliant on God. He is not obligated to serve us but we are obligated to love, glorify, and serve him.
III. God is eternal and he is unchanging
"The eternal God..." (Deut. 33:27)
"For I, the Lord, do not change..." (Mal. 3:6)
(A) God is eternal (Gen. 21:33; Ps. 90:2; Isa. 43:13; Rom. 16:26; 1 Tim. 1:17). God exists without relation to time. He is outside time, in fact he is time-less. God is existing and is engaged in this very moment and at this same moment he is simultaneously existing and engaging in all other moments past and future, and even in all "moments" outside of time. But that doesn't mean God is somehow stuck in one moment himself watching all our moments. No, for God there is no time.He freely acts and moves in eternity outside of time as he pleases. It is impossible for us to comprehend totally but it is true. From the beginning of time, to this moment, to the end of time God is currently existing and engaging all simultaneously.
A ramification of God's eternalness is that he is also ageless. He is neither young nor old, he just is. He has no age.
(B) God is unchanging (immutable)(Mal. 3:6; Jas. 1:17). Because God is eternal, it means that he stays the same and never changes. This means that both (1) God's nature and (2) his character never change. Nothing in God's nature changes. He will always be self-sufficient, omnipresent, omniscient,etc. Nothing about God's character changes. He will always be loving, just, holy, etc.
Because God is immutable it means that he does not grow nor does he learn, for that would involve a change in his essential being. This implies that it is impossible for God grow or learn because he is already perfect. Only an imperfect being would need to grow and learn, thereby changing. But God is perfect and therefore unchanging.
Application: God is always involved in our lives. He is with us right at this moment, and right now he is also with us in our past and he is with us in our future, working on bringing us to himself. Our response should be to seek Him and to obey him.
IV. God is infinite and He is triune
"Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You..." (1 Kings 8:27)
"Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!" (Deut. 6:4)
(A) God is infinite. Infinite means limitless. The idea of God being limitless is is found in 1 Kings 8:27 and Acts 17:24-28. But God is more than just limitless. God's infinitude is literally beyond our understanding. Our minds are finite and by their very nature cannot fully grasp infinitude. We can only understand the idea, but not comprehend the actual. Furthermore, we can only properly describe it in negative terms.
We could try to say that all the attributes of God's nature and his character are not just unlimited in a static fashion, but in a kinetic fashion. In other words, God's attributes are not just too big for us to understand but they are continually growing or expanding without end at an infinite rate. Yet here we run into a problem, for saying that God's attributes are growing implies a beginning, but there is no beginning to God or his attributes. Furthermore, God is immutable, meaning he cannot change. So we can't say that God's attributes are growing because God is already complete and perfect.
It boils down to this: God and his attributes are eternally unlimited and measureless, period.
A further truth is that God is the one and only infinite being. If there were two infinite beings then they would both be limited by the other's unlimitedness. If one were to make a decision or action, it would then affect the other thereby setting a limit for the other. So two infinite beings cannot exist simultaneously. Therefore our eternal God is the only infinite being.
Due to God's infinitude, he has supreme greatness (greatness in the sense of magnitude, superiority). God has the greatest amount of freedom since he is not limited by creation. He has the greatest amount of reason so he is not bound by rules of logic. He is unlimited in his choices and imagination so he can literally create anything to reach his decisions. He has the greatest emotions so his love, pity, joy, anger, etc. are so intense that they are beyond measure.
God is greater than his creation. He is not limited by heaven so he can freely decide and act without regard to the spirit world. He is greater than matter so he can manipulate it however he wishes (ie. miracles). He is greater than space so he can control every galaxy in the universe. And finally, he is greater than time so he can accomplish his plans in creation and mankind without being limited by any particular person, people, or era.
(B) God is triune. God is a triune being. This means he is three distinct persons in one person. This truth breaks the laws of logic but it is nonetheless true. Keep in mind that God is eternal, immutable, and infinite so he is beyond logic.
The Old Testament clearly teaches that there is only one God. "The Lord is one," (Deut. 6:4) and "I am the Lord,and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God" (Isa. 45:5-6).
However, most times the OT uses the word "God" it is in the plural form; Elohim. In the original Hebrew language, any time the suffix "im" appears at the end of a word it is plural. Furthermore, it is plural with at least three in view. So Elohim is plural for "God." Also there are times in the OT when God talks to himself as if he were plural (Gen. 1:26; 3:22; 11:6-7; Isa. 6:8).
Deuteronomy 6:4 contains both truths in the original Hebrew language. "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!" (Deut. 6:4). The word "Lord" is the Hebrew wordYHWH, or Yahweh, and it is singular. It means "to be" and it speaks of God's self-existence. So in the verse it refers to Elohim (pural, God) as the one Yahweh (singular, Lord).
The New Testament also affirms both the singleness and plurality of God but adds some clarity to the plurality.
The NT tells us "that there is no God but one." (1 Cor. 8:4-6. See also Eph. 4:3-6; Jas. 2:19).
Yet the NT also sees the Father as God (John 6:27; 1 Pet. 1:2), Jesus the Son as God (John 1:1-3; Col.1:13-17) and the Holy Spirit as God (Acts 5:3-4). What's more, they all appear together at the same time together during the baptism of Jesus (Matt. 3:16-17; Mk. 1:9-11; Lk. 3:21-22).
So all three members of the trinity exist simultaneously and all are God. Each one is eternal, immutable, and infinite. Each one has their own will, intellect and emotions. Yet they are all one person.
Many great thinkers have tried to reconcile the logical difficulty of God being three persons and at the same time just one person, but no theory is adequate to harmonize both truths. Let me be the first to reveal the truth of the matter, but let's keep it just between us... I have absolutely no clue how to figure it out. Neither does anyone else. God is beyond logic so it's best to affirm both truths and not try to reconcile the triunity of the infinite God with our finite minds.
Application: We are limited but God is not. We may achieve great heights with our knowledge. We may have mountain top experiences of emotion. We may make a glorious world for ourselves. Yet for all our accomplishments and experiences we are limited and measurable. God on the other hand is so infinitely far above us that at our greatest we are but a speck of dust in comparison. He is so great that he cannot be measured. God's infinitude should humble our proud hearts and cause us to look to him as the final authority and rely on him alone for our lives, for "with God all things are possible." (Matt. 19:26)
The nature of God's triunity doesn't really relate to us directly. It is an incommunicable attribute. However, each member of the trinity does have different functions when it comes to how God deals with creation.
The fact that God is triune should cause us to see God as greater than our understanding. Clearly he is far beyond us. So far that our minds do not contain the tools to fully comprehend him. So we must leave the secret things of comprehension to God (Deut. 29:29) and seek to live according to what he has made clear and understandable about himself in his word.
V. God is all-powerful and he is Creator
"I am God Almighty" (Gen. 17:1; 35:11)
The first few attributes we looked at focused on God's attributes that are true of him without relation to creation. The attributes we turn to now will mainly focus on God in relation to creation.
(A) God is all-powerful (omnipotent). "Behold, God is exalted in His power" (Job 36:22).
We should not think that somewhere there is a stash of all the power in existence and all of it belongs to God. That's not what "all-powerful" means. This attribute stems directly from God's infinitude. Because God is infinite, his power is unlimited. He never gets tired so he never sleeps (Psalm 121:4).The fact that God is triune should cause us to see God as greater than our understanding. Clearly he is far beyond us. So far that our minds do not contain the tools to fully comprehend him. So we must leave the secret things of comprehension to God (Deut. 29:29) and seek to live according to what he has made clear and understandable about himself in his word.
V. God is all-powerful and he is Creator
"I am God Almighty" (Gen. 17:1; 35:11)
The first few attributes we looked at focused on God's attributes that are true of him without relation to creation. The attributes we turn to now will mainly focus on God in relation to creation.
(A) God is all-powerful (omnipotent). "Behold, God is exalted in His power" (Job 36:22).
When the bible speaks of God as "the Almighty" it is denoting his infinite power and strength (Gen. 28:3; 43:14; Job 11:7; Ps. 91:1; Joel 1:15; Rev. 11:17; etc.). Anything he wants to do he is also able to do and nothing can limit or restrain his strength (1 Sam. 14:6; Job 9:1-12; 11:10). However, the use of his power is restricted by God's other attributes (ie. faithfulness. See 2 Tim. 2:13). So God cannot use his unlimited strength to act outside his character.
Furthermore, God sometimes restrains himself from using his power. Therefore, he alone decides how to use his power. No created being can coerce or manipulate God to use his power (1 Cor. 2:16). Whatever God wants to do he does, and whatever he doesn't want to do he doesn't do (Ps. 135:6).
(B) God is Creator. God's power is seen in his ability to create. "Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power" (Jer. 32:17).
Try this: Right now say out loud, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures." My guess is nothing happened when you spoke the words. When God spoke those words animals came into existence (Gen. 1:24-25). Whereas they did not exist before, now they do. God commanded the earth to do it by just speaking with his voice and the earth immediately obeyed.
God created all the angels (Ps. 148:2, 5) including Satan and the other angels who fell (demons), and all the stars and planets and the earth and everything in them (Gen. 1).
Because God created the universe and everything in it, he rightfully possesses ownership over all creation. In Psalm 50:12 God says, "...the world is Mine, and all it contains" (see also Ex. 19:5; Job 41:11; Ps. 50:10-12). God also claims ownership of our souls (Ezek. 18:4).
God can do what he pleases with his creation. If he wants to break the laws of nature and/or logic to do a miracle then, not only does he have the right to do it because he owns creation, but Almighty God also has more than enough power to do it.
A final point to consider about this attribute is that, because God alone retains ownership and power over creation, he also possesses control over all of it (Ps. 135:6). This means that nothing can happen in creation without him allowing it or directly controlling it. He controls the seasons and the weather (Ps. 107:24-29; Jer. 5:24; Ezek. 34:26). Animals get their food because he is in control (Ps. 104:24-28). You and I live or die because he alone says so: "See now that I, I am He, and there is no god besides Me; it is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded and it is I who heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand" (Deut. 32:39). He sets the laws of creation and we have no choice but to be under those laws, regardless of how we feel about it.
Application: As we begin to grasp these truths, our first reaction should be a tremendous humbling of ourselves and a great awe for the Almighty God. A further reaction should be reverent gratitude for his provision in our lives. We should realize that God is powerful enough to overcome ANY difficulty in our lives if it is his will to do so. This realization should fill us with overflowing praise to him for his mighty power!
"Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?" (Jer. 32:27)
VI. God is everywhere-present and he is faithful
"Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me." (Psalm 139:7-10)
(A) God is everywhere-present (omnipresent). This attribute means that God is present in all places with his whole being at the same time. This is not pantheism which says that the universe is God and that God is everything in the universe. As we have already seen, the bible teaches that God is a person, he is limitless (infinite), and he is Creator. So creation cannot contain him and he is separate and distinct from his creation.
God is spirit (John 4:24), so he is not limited to the physical realm or to any physical space. God is wholly present both in heaven and in the universe at the same time.
Since God is spirit, we shouldn't think of him as simply too big for us to measure. He is not larger than creation, nor is he infinitely spatial in all directions. To say that God cannot be measured means that God has no size or dimensions by which to measure him.
The unfathomable truth is that, not only is God present in every place at the same time, he is also present with his whole being. In other words, God's presence is not spread over the whole universe so that part of his presence is here and part of it is there. And neither is he split into infinitely smaller versions of himself in order to be present everywhere. Remember, to think ofGod as having size or dimensions is to misunderstand the concept. The truth is that God is fully present with his whole being, not just part, in every place, and without spatial dimensions.
God's omnipresence is complimentary to his eternalness. Because God is eternal, he is present outside time so he sees every moment simultaneously. However, since God is omnipresent he is also present inside time, at every place in time, at the same time. So there is nothing that happens in the universe where God is not there. He is present at every moment in history and in every person's life.
We must note that the immediacy (quality, condition) of his omnipresence is varied. God is present on his throne in heaven (Rev. 4:2; Ps. 16:11) in a different condition than the one in which he is present in hell (Rev. 14:9-10). Likewise, he is present in the life of a believer (Gal. 3:20; Rom. 8:9) in a different way than he is present in the life of an unbeliever (Job 13:16). The original languages of the bible use different words for our word "presence." So just because God is present everywhere doesn't mean he is present in the same way, or condition, everywhere. God may focus attention on particular places but he never abandons a place or places in order to do so.
(B) God is faithful. Here we come in our study to the first attribute of God's character. Omnipresence is only concerned with God's presence in his creation. Faithfulness is concerned with God's commitment to his creation. Because God is present everywhere he is close enough to be faithful. His faithfulness is seen in two categories: (1) General and (2) special.
(1) General faithfulness. This is God's commitment to provide needs for his creation.
"All His work is done in faithfulness" (Psalm 33:4). He is faithful to sustain the existence of the universe (Psalm 119:90), he is faithful to fulfill his plans (Isa. 25:1), he is faithful to provide weather for the earth (Ps. 147:7-8, 15-18), he is faithful to provide food, shelter, and natural joys for every living thing (Ps. 104:10-17; 147:9), and he is faithful to execute justice on mankind (Ps. 54:4-5; 96:13). This means that God will not annihilate or abandon creation or his plans for it and us just because he may become discontent with us. He will faithfully judge each person. Included in God's general faithfulness would be his provision to make eternal salvation available for mankind (Ps. 98:2; Acts 4:12; Titus 2:11).
(2) Special faithfulness. This is God's commitment to provide for his elect only.
Unlike God's omnipresence and general faithfulness, his special faithfulness does not extend to the unsaved. While God did faithfully make eternal salvation available for all people, there is a special way in which he is faithful to those who receive his salvation.
God is faithful to complete the work he begins in the lives of each one of his elect (Phil. 1:6), he is faithful to provide ways out of temptations (1 Cor. 10:13), he is faithful to keep his elect saved (John 10:28-29), he is faithful to forgive and cleanse the sins of the elect (1 John 1:9), and he is faithful to not forsake his elect when they are unfaithful to him (2 Tim. 2:13: Heb. 13:5). Included in God's special faithfulness is a distinct faithfulness to the nation of Israel. Most of the Old Testament (ie. Deut. 4:31; 31:6-8; 1 Kings6:13; Neh. 9:6-33; Isa. 49:14-15; Jer. 32:36-42; the book of Hosea, etc.) and even some of the New Testament (ie. Romans 9-11) portray this in one way or another. God says, "I will not forsake My people Israel" (1 Kings 6:13).
Application: God's omnipresence means he is near. He is right there when we sin and he is right there when we obey. He isn't too far away to hear or to be involved. He is faithfully working his plans out in our lives to bring us away from sin and closer to himself.
When we understand how near and faithful God is to us, we must ask ourselves how faithful we are to him. Do we neglect spending time with him? Do we willfully sin knowing that he is present? Do we try to live in our own strength and neglect him when he is present to help? God's nearness and faithfulness should affect our behavior. Knowing that the Holy God is present should deter us from sinning. We should go to him when we are weak and/or worried. We should serve him with boldness knowing he's with us. We should thank and praise him for his faithfulness.
Almighty God is near and he is ever faithful!
VII. God is all-knowing and he is wise
"Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!" (Rom. 11:33)
(A) God is all-knowing (omniscient). This attribute stems from God's eternalness and omnipresence. God knows perfectly (1) all facts, (2) all actual events and decisions, and (3) all possible events and decisions.
(1) Firstly, God has complete knowledge of all facts. He knows everything about the universe and people. He knows everything from the number and names of all stars (Ps. 147:4) to the number of hairs on each head (Matt. 10:30). As Creator, God also knows about the unseen things in our universe (ie. building blocks of creation, laws of thermodynamics, etc.).
(2) Secondly, because he is outside time, he sees all of history simultaneously, and he sees every single moment with perfect clarity. God knows everything that actually happens in the universe from the very first day and moment of history until the very last day and moment (Isa. 46:9-10). He also knows everything that happens in every individual person's life (Ps. 139:16). Lastly, God's knows our hearts comprehensively. He knows every sin (Ps. 69:5), every desire (Ps. 38:9), and even every thought (Gen. 6:5; 1 Chron. 28:9; Ps. 94:11; 139:2), and "...God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil" (Eccl. 12:14).
(3) Thirdly, another amazing truth we observe about God in Scripture is that he not only knows what things actually happen in history, he also knows everything that could potentially happen in history. Every potential variation of possibility and every possible effect of the choices that people might make. He knows them all. This is implicitly seen in God's warning to Cain: "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door" (Gen. 4:7). God knew Cain would do wrong, but he also knew what would happen if he did right. We see the same thing in several places in the bible when God tells people what will happen if they made certain decisions (ie. Abimelech in Gen. 21:6-7, Moses in Ex. 4:8-9, etc.). For God, all of the infinite possibilities are as real as the actual. Therefore God does not learn since he already knows everything. Neither does he forget since he knows all simultaneously and currently. He has complete and total knowledge in perfect clarity, and astonishingly, everything He knows He has known for all eternity!
Consequently, God is able to tell mankind our future accurately. The accuracy of the prophecies in the bible are astounding. God foretells of specific dates (ie. Dan. 9:24-27), names of people (Isa. 44:28-45:3), and events (ie. Deut. 28:36-30:9) years before their fulfillment (sometimes thousands of years).
Because God's knowledge is infinite and eternal, he knows perfectly and completely everything that exists and will exist, everything that actually does happen and everything that could potentially happen in the universe and earth, in history, in individual lives, and in individual thoughts.
(B) God is wise. Making decisions requires reasoning from a standpoint of moral values. To reach a decision one must weigh all the options to find the best one. To determine the value of "best," an appeal to a moral judgement must be made. God knows categorically right from wrong (Gen. 3:5, 22) so he is able to make supremely wise decisions. This is seen in two ways: (1) God's plans and (2) his prescriptions.
(1) God's plans. He knows what he should do (Job 12:13). Since God knows every potential thing that could happen in the universe and in our lives (omniscience), he also knows how to best work providentially (means) to bring about the best result (end) in our lives and in creation.
When we look at our world and our history and our lives, it may not look like God has chosen the best way to do things but he has. He has wisely chosen the best means to accomplish his will in the world. Remember, God knows the best result (omniscience) and, since he is wise, he is moving things to that end in the best possible way. This means that God never makes a mistake in the way he chooses to do things because he always chooses the best way. There is no better way than the way he chooses.
(2) God's prescriptions (Prov. 2:6). He knows what we should do. God has given us wisdom in his word about how we should live our lives (Prov. 24:14) and he will give wisdom to those who ask during trials (Jas. 1:5). In the book of Proverbs God tells us over and over again to seek wisdom and then we are given instructions about how to live our lives and make wise decisions. He tells us how to deal with our spouse (ie. Prov. 5:18; 12:4), with our children (ie. Prov. 13:22), with our friends (ie. Prov. 18:24), with fools (ie. Prov. 13:20), with our employers (ie. Prov. 27:18), etc.
An interesting truth is that God uses mankind to accomplish his plans. Part of the means God uses to reach his ends are our own free decisions.
Here we run into a seeming philosophical dilemma. Namely, that if God uses our decisions to accomplish his plans then we are predestined to make them the way He needs us to; God is the cause and our decisions are the necessary effect (fatalism). This leaves us without freewill. The flip-side is that if we are not predestined then God must decide what he should do based on what we decide; our decisions are the cause and God's reaction is the effect (indeterminism). This wrongly leaves God as a learning responder rather than the all-knowing controller.
The thing to remember is that God is outside time in eternity, yet he is also omnipresent inside time. So his foreknowledge does not clash with our freedom to choose, and our freedom to choose does not hinder God from controlling history.
This principle is seen in Acts 17:26-27: "He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God."
God has put every person where they are in life so that they would seek Him. He controls everything in our lives so that he may cause us to make the decision he wants us to make, yet we freely make the decision. Since he is omniscient, he knows all potential decisions and how to bring about the best decisions without violating our freedom to choose. This is an impossible concept to fully grasp. So when our minds reach their limits we must trust that the infinite God is able to harmonize what we cannot.
Application: Because God knows everything, there is nothing we do that can be hidden from him. He knows every sin. We may forget many of our sins but God never forgets.
He also knows when we obey. There are things that we may do for God that we don't even know we're doing but he does and he remembers (Matt. 10:42).
Now, because God is wise he always makes the right and best decision, so he cannot be argued with (Prov. 21:30) since he makes no mistakes. He knows the right times in our lives to bring blessing and hardship. He knows each one of us completely and he knows how to work in our individual lives to bring us away from sin and closer to him.
How often do we rely on our own wisdom and reject his wisdom? He has given us his word to show us how to best live our lives, yet we continually neglect and reject his wisdom.
However, there do come times in our lives where we cannot understand why things are happening, even when we do rely on biblical wisdom. In those times God knows right where you are and he has wisely brought you to them. He knows when you will come out of them and he knows that trials are necessary to bring you closer to him. Do not lose heart. THERE IS NO REASON TO DOUBT! God never changes. He will never lose his power nor will he ever remove his presence from you. He is always in control! He wisely knows that there are times to restrict blessing and allow hardships and deep pain in order in bring about deeper maturity and intimacy with him. Only trust him!
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones" (Prov. 3:5-8).
VIII. God is holy and he is Judge
"...Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy..." (Rev. 15:3-4)
(A) God is holy. Holiness is God's total separation from sin, and it is also his infinite purity. He alone is infinitely holy (1 Sam. 2:2).
Because God is holy, he is completely separated from all sin. No created being can enter his presence if they have even a single sin on their record. Only a pure and sinless being may have fellowship with God. In fact, his purity is of such intensity that sin cannot survive its presence.
God's holiness is not something that is merely the state of his character. When his holiness is present it is something that is so infinitely powerful that it affects a physical response. God's purity is so intense that it forces anyone near it's presence to cower.
Because God's holiness is infinite, it is impossible to fully comprehend the power of his purity. All we can do is see how people in the bible reacted to it.
Let's look at three reactions to holiness: (1) mankind to the holy angels, (2) the holy angels to Holy God, and (3) mankind to Holy God.
(1) Mankind to the holy angels. The holy angels were created with a limited, yet powerful, measure of holiness. In the bible, when an angel appears to a human being, the first command given is to not be afraid (ie. Luke 1:13, 30; 2:10). Some appearances result with the person wrongly attempting to worship the angel (Rev. 19:10). The limited holiness of angels is powerful enough to cause fear and wrongful worship from people.
(2) The holy angels to Holy God. When the holy angels come into the presence of the almighty, infinite holiness of God, it is so intense that the angels must cover their faces (Isa. 6:1-4). This is not just to pay homage to God. When we read the passages about the angels in heaven (ie. Isa. 6; Ezek. 1) we get the sense that the intensity of God's purity is too much for them to handle without covering themselves (Ezek. 1:11, 24). The angels who minister at God's throne "day and night... do not cease to say, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty'" (Rev. 4:8).
(3) Mankind to Holy God. If the holy angels have to cover their faces from God's infinite holiness then God is true when he says, "you cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live" (Ex. 33:20).
Whenever the Lord appears to people in the bible they immediately fall on their faces in fear (Gen. 17:3; Ezek. 1:28; Acts 9:3-5; Rev. 1:17).
The reason for fear is because we all have sin on our records. God is so pure that his holiness exposes our utter sinfulness and we become fully aware of the vileness of our uncleanness and wickedness (John 3:20). This results in fear because God alone is infinitely holy so sin must be eradicated from his presence. Therefore God is rightfully just to condemn and punish our sin.
The prophet Isaiah experienced the horror of his own sin when he caught a glimpse of God's holiness. This caused him to cry out in panic, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" (Isa. 6:5).
When God's infinitely powerful holiness is near, every created being in heaven, hell, and on earth is forced to bow and grovel before him in fearful obeisance.
A further point to consider is that all of God's moral and emotional attributes emanate from his holiness. His love is holy, his wrath is holy, his joy is holy, his wisdom is holy, his pity is holy, his faithfulness is holy, etc. All of these attributes are totally pure and separate from sin. This means that God alone has the highest beauty, for everything about him is overflowing with infinite purity (Ps. 27:4). It is also for this reason that God alone is full of glory, and he alone must be exalted.
(B) God is Judge. As we have seen in previous studies, God has complete knowledge of every action and every thought (Ps. 139:2). Therefore we can hide nothing from God (Ps. 69:5). We have also seen that, because God is Creator he alone has the right to do whatever he pleases with his creatures (Ps. 135:6).Therefore he has the right to judge humanity (Ps. 66:7). Furthermore, as mentioned above, because God is holy he is rightfully just to condemn and punish sin.
"God is a righteous judge" (Ps. 7:11) "and He will judge the world in righteousness; He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity" (Ps. 9:8). God judges without bias and with perfect accuracy. He gives everyone exactly what they have coming to them. No more and no less.
The bible says God cannot look upon sin with favor (Hab. 1:13). He must punish sin. He judges sin (1) in the nations and (2) in individual people.
(1) God judges the nations. "Arise, O God, judge the earth! For it is You who possesses all the nations" (Ps. 82:8). In this verse and others (Job 12:23; Ps. 9:19; 22:28; 47:8; 67:4; etc.) we see that God judges the nations of the world. They are his possessions so he has the authority to judge them.
(2) God judges individual people. "God will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man" (Eccl. 3:17). "For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil" (Eccl. 12:14).
When God judges the sins of people he does so rightly and without malevolence (Ps. 51:4).
A final point to note is that the second Person of the trinity, Jesus, has been given the authority to judge (Matt. 28:18). "For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son" (John 5:22). So it is our relation to, and standing before Jesus alone that will determine our judgement. We will look at this more in the final study.
Application: We tend to think of God as being so loving that he shouldn't be feared. The truth is that God's love is governed by holiness. He cannot love sin and this should cause us to fear him. When we enter God's presence, we will be exposed to the full evilness of our sin and we will feel the full weight of its condemnation.
God demands holiness from us: "Be holy for I am holy" (Lev. 11:44), and we continually fall short. Yet he is able to purify us so that we can be holy and serve him in reverent obedience. We will see how this is possible in the final study.
Has God purified you? Start obeying him by cutting sin out of your life and by living according to his will.
Because God is Judge, we must get right with him. There is a day coming when you must appear before Jesus for judgement. Since he is Creator and rightfully has authority over you and me, we have no argument that will dissuade him from his judgement. We must take the righteous judgement that he gives because it will be precisely accurate. However, God has given us a way to be pardoned from sin and be holy, and we will see it in the final study.
IX. God's emotions
"In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Ps. 16:11).
Before we finish our theology proper study I'd like to take a brief look at the emotions of God because they are so often misunderstood.
Since God is a person he has emotions. But what are his emotions? Here are some: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Gal. 5:22-23). "The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness" (Ps. 103:8).
God's emotions connect to his nature and they are governed by his character. All of his emotions are (A) infinite, (B) eternal, (C) governed by holiness, and (D) expressed in wisdom.
(A) All of God's emotions are infinite. Because God is limitless (infinite), his emotions are as well. His anger is infinite, his joy is infinite, his love is infinite, etc. When our understanding and experience of God's emotions toward us reach their full limit, he has infinitely more to give but we do not have the capacity to receive. This is why the bible says things like, "At His wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure His indignation" (Jer. 10:10), or "Your lovingkindness is better than life" (Ps. 63:3).
(B) All of God's emotions are eternal/immutable. Since God is eternal, so are his emotions. This means that he is outside time so he always has the same emotional reactions to things. He could never feel happy about our sin, he could never feel angry about our genuine repentance, etc. All his feelings toward things remain the same. Here's just one example: "The lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him" (Ps. 103:17).
(C) All of God's emotions are governed by his holiness. This means that his feelings are never unholy or sinful. Every emotion God has is righteous and undefiled.
So, for example God's wrath is never a loss of self-control nor a reaction to a bruised ego. His anger is always and only a right reaction to sin. Also, his joy is never ok with sin. God cannot take joy in sin, but only in righteousness. Furthermore, his love does not overlook sin. God cannot love sin. He may love every sinner, but his holiness will not allow him to let their sin go unpunished.
(D) All of God's emotions are expressed in wisdom. This does not mean that God's emotions need to be controlled. For example, we cannot say that he has the ability to get so angry that he could sin, but because he is wise he knows to how to control himself. As we've already seen, God's holiness keeps him from having any unrighteous emotions.
The idea here is about how God expresses his feelings. A loving earthly father may want to give his child everything they ask for and protect them from all harm. But God makes his loving decisions for our benefit. And sometimes it means saying "no" in order to bring our maturity and/or repentance, etc. Sometimes that means he allows great anguish of heart and suffering to turn our reliance on him and/or break our selfish will, etc. Sometimes it may mean making us angry in order to align us to the truth.
Another example of wise emotional expressions is that God may be extremely overjoyed about our sincere obedience to him but may hold off his bountiful blessings until he wisely decides the time is right.
All his emotions are expressed wisely.
Application: Our emotions can be sinful. Many times we get angry for the wrong reasons, or we love things we shouldn't, or we get joy from sin, or we are intentionally unkind, etc. Sin affects our emotions constantly, but part of God's working in our lives is to instill godly emotions in us. He wants us to have holy emotions because they are for our benefit (Gal. 5:22-24).
Also, we need to keep in mind that God's emotional reactions never change. They are always correct and he will never allow them to overrule his wisdom. So he won't be angry with you or me when we sincerely obey. He won't allow his love for us to keep us from harm when it is beneficial for us. God never feels the wrong way about any action that we do. He always has the right emotional response.
Lastly, God wisely decides how to express his emotions toward us. Firstly in salvation: "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8).
And finally in abundant blessings given at the right times: "The Lord gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly" (Ps. 84:11).
X. God is Life and he is Savior
"For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself" (John 5:26)
(A) God is Life. "The living God" (Ps. 84:2). We have seen in a previous study that God is self-existent (Ex. 3:14). Meaning that he exists in himself, and he is neither a contingent nor a self-necessitating being. In other words, God's existence is not caused or sustained by another source, nor is it based on the need for him to be self-existent. Therefore God has life in himself. No other created being has their own life in themselves. All are dependent on something other than themselves for life.
Because God is eternal, the life he possesses is also eternal. This means God cannot die, for dying is a temporal event and God is timeless. Therefore God is eternally in a state of being alive (Jer. 10:10)
Furthermore, God's life is pure. God is sinless so his life is unaffected by degradation. He never grows tired or fatigued but is always brimming with infinite energy. He is truly alive in the purest form, without sin (Ps. 42:2).
Another point to consider is that our existence is contingent upon God. In other words, God is what caused us to exist and he is what keeps us existing. If it were not for God giving us physical life we would not exist. God says, "It is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded and it is I who heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand" (Deut. 32:39).
(B) God is Savior. "With You is the fountain of life" (Ps. 36:9). This attribute magnificently displays in all of the previous attributes we've looked at. God is a person who wants us to know him in an intimate way. He has freely decided to reveal himself. God is eternal and wants to give us eternal life with him. God wants us to experience his infinite blessings. Each Person of the triune God wants to be involved in our lives. God created us and uses his almighty power to bring us to himself. God is faithful to make salvation available for us. God knows and chooses the best ways to work in our lives to bring us to himself. God is holy and wants us to be holy, which leads to our problem...
Not one of us is completely pure (Ps. 14:1-3). The bible says "There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one... For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:10-12, 23).
Furthermore, because God is so infinitely pure, and because only an absolutely pure being may enter his presence, there is no way that we could ever be pure enough to enter his presence in heaven. "For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment" (Isa. 64:6).
It gets worse. Because God is the righteous Judge (Ps. 7:11; 96:10, 13) he cannot, and does not let a single sin go unpunished. God says "Behold, all souls are Mine... The soul who sins will die" (Ezek. 18:4). Because we sin, the eternal God has to punish us with eternal death (eternal separation from his holy presence) in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:11-15).
Which leads to God's solution to our problem...
Because God is Life, only people who have eternal and pure life may enter into his presence. God wants us to be with him (John 17:24) so he made a way for us to be pure enough to enter his holy presence.
The second Person of the trinity, the Son, became a human being (Jesus Christ) in order to do what we could not; bring us to God (1 Pet. 3:18). As the headline verse says, the Son has the same life that the Father has (John 5:26): pure and eternal life contained in a human being. It is only this kind of life that may enter heaven.
The bible says that "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8). Jesus stepped into our place and paid our death-penalty. All of our sins have been paid for!
But it gets better! Jesus didn't stay dead. The bible says "that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4). Jesus rose from the dead so that we could have the same pure and eternal life that he has! You see, "if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his" (Rom. 6:5).
So God made a way for us to have pure and eternal life with him and be saved from our sins. But how do we get the salvation God provided? “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). Since nothing that we do can make us pure enough for the infinitely holy God, we must come the way God provided: By trusting only in the living Lord Jesus and his death and resurrection. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live" (John 11:25). "Whoever comes to me I will never cast out" (John 6:37). "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand" (John 10:28).
In order to be saved we must turn away from our sins because they cannot enter God's holy presence, and we must come to the living Lord Jesus and simply and sincerely trust him alone for our salvation.
Application: God has eternal and pure life but you and I have an eternal death sentence to pay. God made a way for us to be saved. Jesus, the second Person of the triune God, sacrificed his life to pay for our sins and rose from the dead to make eternal life available to you and me. Our responsibility is to turn from our sins and receive the living Lord Jesus as our only Savior. Because Jesus is our living Savior, it is our obligation to let him be Lord of our lives. He knows what's best for us, so we should seek his will in all that we do.
"You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart" (Jer. 29:13).
Conclusion
The one and only, eternal, infinite, almighty, faithful, wise, holy, beautiful, triune Lord and Savior alone is worthy of all glory and praise!!
A final Psalm. Psalm 145 wonderfully portrays all of God's attributes that we've seen in this study so I will let the bible have the last word since it is from the bible that we have sought to understand God throughout this study.
Psalm 145
"I will extol You, my God, O King, and I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You, and I will praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of Your majesty and on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.
Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts, and I will tell of Your greatness. They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness and will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.
The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger and great in lovingkindness. The Lord is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works.
All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord, and Your godly ones shall bless You. They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom and talk of Your power; to make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts and the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations.
The Lord sustains all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in due time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
The Lord is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His deeds. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them. The Lord keeps all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy.
My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever."
Nehemiah Ryan © 2013
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