Here’s the last installment in the intro message on God. More Basics messages on the way, so keep checking back!
Grace and peace,
Brian
3.) “The Attributes of God” It is difficult to distinguish between the nature of God and His attributes. Trying to separate God and His nature into parts is always a bit problematic because it presumes an ability on our part to understand these distinctions. As foolish as that is, let’s plunge forward and see what many theologians call the “natural” and “moral” attributes of God. (I could certainly reference more passages from the Bible for each point but I’ve intentionally kept this brief…)
The “natural” attributes go like this:
1.) God is Omniscient; that means He knows everything. He has perfect understanding and knowledge of everything at all times. 1John 3:20 simply states that “…God…knows all things.” (Also Is.40:28)
2.) God is Omnipotent; that means He is all powerful. God can bring to pass anything that He wills, nothing is impossible for Him, He has no limitations. See Job 42:2, Gen. 18:14, Luke 1:37. There is nothing outside of the realm of His control.
3.) God is Omnipresent; that means that He is everywhere at all times. He is not limited by time or space. Again Psalm 139:7-12, Jer.23:23-24 amongst others.
We might sum up the Trinity like this; God the Father is specially manifested in Heaven, God the Son has been specially manifested on Earth, God the Holy Spirit has been specially manifested everywhere. God is present everywhere at all times with all power and all knowledge.
The “moral” attributes go like this:
1.) God is Immutable; That means He never changes. Mal.3:6, “For I am the Lord, and I do not change.”
2.) God is Holy; That means He is perfect in purity, in Him there is no shadow or variance, no spot or wrinkle. Is.6:3 God is declared to be “holy, holy, holy”, the only attribute of God repeated three times. We can also see that the holiness of God is the primary message of the OT. (Lev.11:45, Psalm 99:9) This may be the most overwhelming of His attributes.
3.) God is righteous and just; These things spring from His holiness. This means that He is always right, and all His actions and decisions are right and according to perfect justice. Ezra 9:15 says; “O Lord God of Israel, You are righteous…” Also Psalm 11:4-7, 145:17, and Rev.16:5-6.
4.) God is full of loving-kindness and mercy; God is not mean hearted. Mercy is defined as “not giving us what we deserve”. In that respect, everyday that this planet and it’s inhabitants wakes up and breaths again is because of His mercy. His loving-kindness is seen in His grace. Not only do we wake up and breath, but He has supplied humanity all that it needs to survive and even prosper. Deut. 4:31, “…for the Lord your God is a merciful God…” Also Ps.92:1-2, Eph.2:4.
5.) God is love; 1John 4:8 makes this bold and startling declaration about God. He is simply love. He is also described as “Light”, and “Spirit”, but here He is love. God’s nature is to love. 1John 4:19, “We love Him because He first loved us.” That love was declared in John 3:16 then demonstrated in Jesus’ death on the cross. (Romans 5:8)
God simply is. We can see many things about Him throughout His Word. He has manifested Himself in this world that we might see Him, He sent His Son that we might know Him, and sent His Holy Spirit that we might experience Him. There is only one way to do this, by faith. God cannot be proven or disproved by science. But He has made Himself known and knowable. Every other religion on earth disagrees. As we proceed further in our lessons we will continue to see the nature and attributes of God manifested throughout all of His Word. Though this doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface so to speak, perhaps it will get us into a mind set to consider Who He is, and when we do there is only one thing left to do, that is to worship Him.
Seeing God for Who He is leads to only one thing, worship. He alone is worthy to be praised; He alone is worthy to be worshiped. But one last thing I want to leave you with. As we have very briefly looked at God in His Word I want you to walk away with this; God, Who is Self-Existent, Spirit, manifested in the Trinity, Creator of all things seen and unseen, Who alone knows all, sees all, and has all power, our God Who alone is Holy, holy, holy, righteous, just, full of loving-kindness, mercy and grace, Who alone is love in and of Himself, this God knows you, and He loves you, and He is calling to you to come to Him for salvation and forgiveness. He has made Himself known for you and knowable for you that you might enjoy all the mercy, love and forgiveness that He has for you. The Bible says that there is only one God, all else is a fake. Do you know God today, because He knows you and loves you with an everlasting love.