Who is God?
“This is eternal life, that they may know You,the only true God”
JOHN 17:3
Who is God?
God does Exist

• “… He who comes to God must believe that He (God) is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”  (Hebrews 11:6).

A tall order for the atheist admittedly – but the Bible gives us plenty of convincing evidence that God does indeed exist.  In addition to this “intellectual” evidence, is “experiential” evidence – believers can see God at work in their own lives.

Examining the intricate structure of our bodies (Psalm 139:14), the evident design in a flower, gazing up into the vastness of space on a clear night, these and countless other careful reflections on life surely make atheism incredible.  To believe that there is no God, and that everything and everyone we see around us came from nothing and no-one, is against all the laws of probability.  Surely this requires more faith than to believe that He exists.  Without God there is no order, purpose or ultimate explanation in the universe, and this will, therefore, be reflected in the life of the atheist.

There is Only One God:
The Explosion of the Trinity Myth

Deuteronomy 6:4,5 states:  “The LORD our God, the LORD is one!  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength”.  So the LORD’s unity is strongly linked with His being our God, the sole Lord and unrivalled Master of His people.  It was the unity of God, and the imperative from it to love Him with all the heart, which was programmatic for the Jews’ daily living.  This is why it was Jewish practice to recite these words several times a day, and also on their deathbed.

If there is only “one” God, as this passage clearly maintains, where does this leave the popular doctrine of the trinity?  The trinity is one of the greatest false doctrines of all time, in its claim that there are three “persons” in the Godhead.  The word trinity is never even found in the Bible.  The Bible teaches that God is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that the Holy Spirit is His special power.  Three separate entities – not “three in one” – as the confusing doctrine of the trinity would have us believe.

More About God...
God is from Everlasting to Everlasting

See what Habakkuk 1:12 builds upon the fact of God’s everlasting nature:  “Are You not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One?  We shall not die”.  If we truly believe that we are His people, not those of this world, and that we are truly part of His eternal family, then His eternity becomes a guarantee of our eternal salvation.

God is the Creator

Because of God’s awesome creation and the power of the Word that formed it all, we should likewise stand in awe of Him and recognize the power of His word (Psalm 33:6-9).  Because we are created in God’s image; the structure of our very bodies is an imperative to give ourselves totally to His cause (Matthew 22:19-21).  Whatever bears God’s image – i.e. our very bodies – must be given to Him.  “It is He who made us, and (therefore) we are His (Psalm 100:3 NIV).  We must be His in practice because He is our Creator.  So it is not that we merely believe in creation rather than evolution; more than this, such belief in creation must elicit a life given over to that creator.

God Sees and Knows All Things,
Through His Spirit

The Old Testament character of Job knew this, and therefore he commented, it was impossible that he would lust after a woman, if he really believed (as he claimed he did) that God was omniscient:

• “I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman?... (for) does He (God) not see my ways, and count all my steps?” (Job 31:1-4).

 

Likewise God had to remind Israel:

"Can any hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?” (Jeremiah 23:24)

The context is appealing to the people to quit their sins.  We should labour to enter the Kingdom, because God knows absolutely our every thought and action of ours and will ultimately judge them (Hebrews 4:11-13).

God is a Real, Personal Being

“An ‘impersonal God’ – well and good.  A subjective God of beauty, truth and goodness, inside our own heads – better still.  A formless life-force surging through us, a vast power which we can tap – best of all.  But God Himself, alive, pulling at the other end of the cord, perhaps approaching at an infinite speed, the hunter, king, husband – that is quite another matter.  There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly:  was that a real footstep in the hall?  There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion suddenly draw back.  Supposing we really found Him?” (C.S. Lewis, Miracles).  But the personal reality of God is startling and gripping and eternally demanding.

God is a real person, as the following points prove:

• It is a fundamental tenet of Christianity that Jesus is the Son of God. If God is not a real being, then it is impossible for Him to have a Son who was the ‘image of His person” (Hebrews 1:3)

 

• Further, it becomes difficult to develop a personal, living relationship with ‘God’, if ‘God’ is just a concept in our mind.  It is tragic that the majority of religions have this unreal, intangible conception of God.

• As God is so infinitely greater than we are, it is understandable that many people’s faith has balked at the clear promises that ultimately we will see Him: “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).

 

• Jesus tells us that we should not swear, because “he who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it” (Matthew 23:22).  To “sit” one must be a real person.

• God said, Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness” (Genesis 1:26).  Thus man is made in the image and likeness of God, as manifested through the angels.  Our creation in the image of God surely means that we can infer something about the real object, of which we are but an image.  Thus God, whom we reflect, is not something nebulous of which we cannot conceive.

 

• The faithful are promised that they will inherit God’s nature (2 Peter 1:4).

• We will be given a body like that of Jesus (Philippians 3:21), and we know that he will have a physical body in the Kingdom.

 

The personality of God is, therefore, related to the Gospel of the Kingdom.  There can be no sensible concept of worship, religion or personal relationship with God therefore until it is appreciated that God is a real being and that we are made in His image.  We need to develop His mental likeness now, so that we may be made fully like Him in the Kingdom of God.
What Does This Mean for Me?

There is a vast difference between having a vague notion that there is a higher power, and actually being certain of what He is offering in return for faithful service to Him.  Hebrews 11:6 makes this point, we “must believe that He (God) is” AND “that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him”.

An awareness within us that there is a God, does not mean that we are automatically acceptable to God.  If we seriously agree that we really do have a creator, we should “therefore keep His… commandments” (Deuteronomy 4:39,40).  As we search the Scriptures in order to do this, we will find that our faith in God’s existence is strengthened.