What You Should Know About GOD

by J. W. Jepson, D.Min.

Contents

Chapter 4: The Name Of God chapters 4-5

Chapter 6: The Greatness Of God chapters 6-7

Chapter 8: God’s Relationship To His Creation chapters 8-9

Chapter 9: Our Obligation To God

God Is Not A Spring Bean

In a small Sunday School in Lemon Cove, California, a teacher asked her class of junior boys, "Who is God?" Immediately one bright young fellow responded confidently, "God is a spring bean."

The teacher stared at him for a moment, an expression of bewilderment written across her face. What on earth could he mean? Recovering her presence of mind, she asked him to explain himself, which he did gladly. He had heard God referred to as the Supreme Being, but in his young mind "spring bean" was as close as he could come to that majestic term.

We smile at the lad's childish understanding. But do we ourselves really know who God is?

Of course, none of us would refer to God as a "spring bean." But what do such terms as: "the higher power," "the ground of being," "the cosmic life force," and "the man upstairs" reveal about one's concept of God?

Some people's impression of God is physical, like Michelangelo's old man with a long, flowing beard. Of course, God is nothing like that.

Then, who is God? Is He near or far off? Is He directly involved in human experience, or aloof from the world? Is He essentially a stern Judge? a doting old grandpa? a good luck charm, or a "genie" to call on only when in need of help?

Each of us should ask himself or herself "Is God of primary importance to me? Is He truly the Supreme Being in my life, or is a formal nod toward Him now and then about the extent of my recognition of Him?"

To most people God is so vague that He seems like a dream, like a character in a fairy tale. Many doubt that He really exists.

This is a matter of utmost practical importance because our understanding of God is the basic determining factor in our lives. The very meaning of life itself, our attitude toward ourselves and others, our concept of sin and salvation--everything of real importance--is ultimately the result of our concept of God. So then the very nature of the inquiry urges us to proceed seriously. As we do, let us keep three things in mind:

(1) by His very nature, God is infinitely greater than any attempt to study Him, greater than all that can be said about Him. So we must confine our consideration of God to His revelation of Himself. If we do not, we will drift into speculation and error. We will be like the Samaritans, who did not know what they were worshiping (John 4:22).

We will be like the little boy who was scribbling on a piece of paper.

"What are you drawing?" his mother asked.

"A picture of God," he replied confidently.

"But, dear, nobody knows what God looks like," the mother responded.

"They will when I get through," he announced.

So it is with speculative theology.

(2) the second thing to keep in mind is that what is revealed about God applies to all three Persons of the Godhead--the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit--with particular application to the Father because of the Father's primacy.

(3) thirdly, no one can truly know God merely by studying about Him. God is a Person, and He is truly known only by a personal relationship with Him. So then, if we gather all the information we can about God, yet fail to meet Him personally in Jesus Christ, we will miss everything. Also, we can truly know God in Jesus Christ, even if we know very little about Him at the moment. Relationship is established by an encounter; it grows by fellowship.

So, depending fully on the illumination of the Holy Spirit, Who is God guiding us to Himself, let us begin our exploration.

Who Is God?

GOD REVEALS HIMSELF.

During a psychology class at Chabot College, in California, discussion turned to the subject of constructs. In psychology, a "construct" is a group of mental impressions put together in a specific form to aid the imagination in its speculation. A construct does not exist in objective reality. It is only a mental form, the product of one's own mind. It is useful only as a mental "scaffold" to help build more concrete understandings. Once it outlasts its usefulness, it can be discarded.

During the discussion a student asked the instructor, "Is God only a construct?"

In a display of candor regarding spiritual matters uncommon in secular classrooms, the instructor replied that the subject of the existence of God is beyond the scope of the scientific method. Science deals only with physical observation and experimentation. Being non-physical and non-observable as to His Person, God is outside the jurisdiction of science.

The instructor was correct.

Does this mean that God has not made Himself known? By no means! On the contrary, God has provided a full range of compelling evidences of Himself--His existence, His nature, His will and His purposes. In fact, when properly and fully considered, the honest inquirer will discover them to be conclusive.

"But I must have absolute proof!" the atheist demands.

And what kind of proof does he or she require? The answer of course is physical proof. The evidence must fit the unbeliever's own specifications in order to meet his or her personal criteria for belief. In other words, the unbeliever assumes the prerogative to set the rules of inquiry and to demand that God follow them. Having arrogated sovereignty to himself, the secularist proceeds to dictate the epistemological terms. Instead of giving serious and objective consideration to the existing evidence, he insists on other empirical data as a pre-condition for personal faith.

This is highly presumptuous and unfair. It is also sheer nonsense. The Creator will not reveal Himself on any terms that presuppose the creature's ultimate sovereignty or right of ultimate determination in the inquiry. It should be obvious that this is inherent in the very nature of the inquiry.

God will not concede ultimate authority to man. He is too wise for that. His regard for His honor, the integrity of His moral government and the well-being of His creation prevent such a degrading proceeding. God will not climb onto anyone's laboratory table, fit into anyone's test tube, slide under anyone's microscope and play "specimen" for any homo sapiens who insists on being a validator of Deity, smug in his own self-defined and self-ruled cosmos.

Of all the challenges to the human mind, this one more than any other requires and should produce humility in the inquirer. But it is the one that elicits the most untempered pride, the one where humility, objectivity, and the due degree of diligence are most wanting. The reason for this is that it confronts the person himself or herself most directly and totally--the ego, the lifestyle, the value-system, the basic issue of who is going to occupy first place in the heart. Thus for most unbelievers there is a subjective vested interest in avoiding an encounter with the truth of God and the God of truth. The bias is not merely intellectual, but moral.

In view of the very nature of the inquiry itself, if we are to know God, God must reveal Himself to us and we must accept His self-revelation. We must follow God's rules, including the indispensable conditions of humility and faith--reasonable faith, faith demanded by the evidence.

When we consider honestly the full testimony that God has given to us concerning Himself, we must ask, What more can God say to us without yelling at us? What more can He do without forcing Himself on us? Does the agnostic want God to come and forcibly crush all his cavils? Will additional evidence convince the person who does not want to believe? What good is "proof" to the one who does not really want proof? Will the person who refuses to give due consideration to the evidence now available examine further evidence?

Are most unbelievers investigating this subject with a diligence commensurate with its vital importance? No. They are not seeking after God. Their quest is for a rationale for avoiding Him. They do not want "to retain God in their knowledge" (Romans 1:28).

Truly it has been said that people are not seeking after a lost God; God is seeking after lost people.

Certainly God has revealed Himself to us. In a myriad of ways He is telling us things about Himself, communicating so that everyone who will listen can hear. For that reason the Bible does not attempt to "prove" the existence of God. It needs no proof. God's own testimony is proof enough for the honest heart.

Nature.

God is speaking to us through nature, saying to us that He really is and that He has unlimited power and intelligence. "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse" (Romans 1:20 NIV).

We look at the natural world around us. Then we think of the material universe beyond us. We consider the massiveness, complexity, purposeful design, order, detail. Where did it all come from? Could it all have just happened? Is matter eternal, with no beginning, no source, no cause? Can blind forces produce what obviously requires supremely intelligent planning and skill? Could all the good that nature and natural laws tend within themselves to secure be the product of accidental, non-intelligent, amoral processes?

Think!

The universe must have an adequate first cause. Intelligent, purposeful design demands an intelligent purposeful Designer.

Materialistic theories of origins are intellectually and morally bankrupt. They are inadequate to account for the data and they provide no moral basis for human society.

There is only one adequate alternative: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1).

The natural creation indicates how great and how intelligent God must be. From the beauties, bounties and balance of nature we see that God dearly loves us and designs everything for our good. This is evident in spite of the fact that because of man's sin, God has had to limit the human life span on earth by introducing into the ecosystem the process of deterioration. Nature is no longer perfect (see Romans 8:19-23).

God is; God is great; God is good. This is the clear testimony of creation. "The heavens are declaring the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands" (Psalm 19:1 NASB). "The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the peoples have seen His glory" (Psalm 97:6 NASB) "He left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness" (Acts 14:17 KJV).

Man.

Man (both male and female) is a mystery. He cannot be accounted for by naturalistic explanations. Secular theories fail to explain him. The whole is far more than the sum of the known parts.

We carry within ourselves the image of God. We are free moral agents, possessing reason and will. We are capable of perceiving values and of making intelligent value-decisions. Also, we know the moral character of our decisions.

We have within us an awareness of the eternal. No evolutionary mechanism can account for this. Man reaches for the heavens, just as an eagle raised in a chicken coop longs to soar the heights. And we cannot accept the finality of death without forfeiting something distinctly human within ourselves.

Universally, the human race has had a native consciousness of the existence of God that does not depend on sensory perception. Take away a person's five senses, and the inner consciousness of personhood remains undiminished. That person is just as aware as before that he or she is, that space and being are, that God is. Although we can learn more about these things, we do not need to be informed of their existence before we are conscious that they are. We are. Being is. God is. We know these things intuitively and we cannot deny them without denying ourselves. Let a person argue ever so eloquently to the contrary. When he has fully presented his case, he walks away carrying within himself a reality that demolishes all his specious sophistry.

The Bible.

Here is a book that tells with total accuracy about events centuries before they happen; a book that is demonstrated to be accurate by historical and archaeological research; a book that contains a system of theology and morality so perfect that it cannot be the product of mere human thought or culture; a book that records the only possible plan of salvation that is morally and governmentally sound; a book that alone answers with complete satisfaction the basic questions of human origin, nature and destiny; a book that has endured all attacks against itself; a book that has revolutionized whole societies for good, laying the foundation for human freedom and dignity.

Who alone can be the ultimate author of such a book? The answer is God. God is talking to us in the Bible, telling us about Himself, revealing His Person, His character, and His purposes.

For a complete, accurate, authoritative, verbal revelation of God, read the Bible.

Jesus Christ.

In the Bible God reveals Himself in words and events. In Jesus Christ God reveals Himself in Person.

Jesus not only told us about God; He showed us God. He is God revealed in the flesh, the "living photograph" of God.

Jesus said to Philip, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9 NIV). "God...has spoken to us by his Son,...the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being" (Hebrews 1:1-3 NIV).

Jesus Christ is God's highest, most eloquent revelation of Himself. No one will find God as long as he or she continues to reject Jesus Christ. The person who rejects God's testimony about His Son is rejecting God's revelation of Himself. If we want to know God, we must meet Him in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man comes to the Father but by me" (John 14:6).

Human experience.

God's revelation of Himself in The Scriptures and in Jesus Christ is a complete revelation. But it is not just a past revelation; neither is it a passive revelation. What God has revealed Himself to be He is demonstrating Himself to be right now in human experience. He is the God of transformed lives, the God of answered prayer, the God of ordered circumstances (Providence), the God of miracles. God is now.

The true Christian experiences personal fellowship with God. This is more than emotion, though it involves the emotions. It is more than mental impression, though it involves the mind. It is conscious communion with a real Person. It is the witness of the Spirit, the inner testimony of God.

Subjective? Yes, but not private. Each believer is aware that this same personal fellowship with God is experienced by all other believers, though not all to the same degree. Fellowship with God is the basis for fellowship among believers.

"Jesus answered and said to him, If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him" (John 14:23). This is the most personal revelation of God.

GOD IS A PERSON.

God has revealed Himself in the Bible as a Person. He is not merely an idea or a concept. He is not an abstract quality such as "goodness" or "wisdom." When the Bible says that God is love (1 John 4:8 and 16), it does not mean that God is a "thing" called "love." If that were the case, it could equally read, "Love is God." That would be saying that truth is anything that reads backward as well as forward. That would be nonsense. When the Bible says that God is love, it is summing up His moral character. Every purpose and act of God is motivated ultimately by a design to secure the highest good.

Also, God is not a mystic principle such as "Universal Mind" or "Cosmic Consciousness." He is not a philosophical abstraction such as "the Ground Of Being." He is not an impersonal energy or force. He is not nature or the force of nature.

God is a Person, with all the qualities of conscious personality, including choosing, thinking, and feeling. He can communicate personally intelligently and verbally. God's qualities of personhood are infinite. He is infinite in knowledge and wisdom, infinite in love, and infinite in His personal capacity for happiness.

God Is One.

God reveals Himself to be One--the only true and living God. He is not one "god" among many "gods" (polytheism). He is not the chief "god" among several "gods" (henotheism). He is One, alone--the only God that is (monotheism).

"The Lord, he is God; there is none else beside him" (Deuteronomy 4:35).

"The Lord our God is one Lord" (Deuteronomy 6:4).

"Thou art great, O Lord God, for there is none like thee; neither is there any God beside thee " (2 Samuel 7:22).

"Thou art God alone" (Psalm 86:10).

"I am he; before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no Savior" (Isaiah 43:10 and 11).

"I am the Lord, and there is none else" (Isaiah 45:18).

"I am God, and there is none else" (Isaiah 46:9).

Yes, God is one; yet the One God exists in, and reveals Himself as three distinct Persons: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three Persons are the One God. They are not three separate "gods." A belief in three gods is an error called tritheism.

Neither is each Person in the Godhead "one-third" of God. Each Person is totally God and fully represents the Godhead as a whole.

The question has been raised, "how can one plus one plus one equal one?" The answer is, it cannot. But that is beside the point. The fact is that God cannot be expressed or understood by a mathematical equation. The attempt to do so is an effort to reduce God down to the categories of our own comprehension. But a completely explainable God could not and would not be God. A God small enough for us to comprehend fully would not be big enough to be God. He would be limited to the parameters of our understanding. The moment that we believe that we can explain God fully is the moment that we miss Him. God is reasonable, yes; explainable, no.

Even if God could be expressed by a mathematical formula, the formula would be one times one times one equals one.

God is not a committee of three separate individuals. I remember very clearly a statement by an instructor in a Bible class many years ago. He asserted, "The Father wants to destroy the world, but Jesus won't let Him do it." That is nonsense, of course. God is One, existing in three Persons indivisibly and harmoniously in essence, will and qualities. We call this tri-unity of God the Trinity.

The Trinity is a sublime mystery, inscrutable, ineffable. Nevertheless, it is the truth, because this is what God has revealed Himself to be.

The term "God" can be applied in its true meaning only to the One True God. Only God is God, and He is fully God in each and all of His three Persons.

In Isaiah 44:6 God declares, "beside me there is no God." Here God is speaking in His tri-unity, the indivisible One in Three, because anyone not included in this Scripture cannot be God in any proper definition of the word.

Jesus Christ is God (John 20:28; Hebrews 1:8). He cannot be merely a god, because God is God alone (Psalm 86:10), and beside Him there is no God (Isaiah 44:6). So then, Jesus Christ, being God, must partake of and share in the very essence of the One indivisible God.

"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13).

"...through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:1).

It is a well-established rule of New Testament Greek that when the definite article (the) is followed by two nouns of the same case connected by kai (and), both nouns refer to the same person. So then "the great God" and "our Savior" (Titus 2:13) both refer to "Jesus Christ." The same is true in 2 Peter 1:1. The literal Greek rendering is "in righteousness of the God of us and Savior Jesus Christ." "God" and "Savior" both refer to Jesus Christ (see also 2 Peter 2:20).

"There is none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods,whether in heaven or in earth (as there be gods many and lords many,) but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him" (1 Corinthians 8:4-6).

In this passage the Lord Jesus Christ is not spoken of apart from God. He is included in the very essence of "one God," just as the Father is included in the very essence of "one Lord." "One Lord Jesus Christ" cannot mean that the Father is not Lord also. Just so, "one God, the Father" cannot mean that Jesus is not God also, in view of Romans 9:5 and Colossians 2:9. The contrast here is between mythical "gods" on the one hand, and the Father and Jesus Christ together on the other.

In 1 Timothy 2:5 we read, "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." Jesus is the Mediator because He is both God and man.

The word "Trinity" itself is not found in the Bible, but the truth expressed by it most certainly is. The tri-unity of God is woven throughout the fabric of Scripture.

In the Old Testament the Persons of the Trinity speak to each other (Genesis 1:26; Psalm 110:1). In the New Testament Jesus spoke of the Father and of the Holy Spirit as Persons distinct from Himself and from each other. At our Lord's baptism, the Father spoke from heaven and the Holy Spirit rested upon Him in the form of a dove.

In Matthew 28:19 Jesus said, "Go therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Thus our Lord clearly declared the fact of the Trinity; nevertheless, He was careful to teach also the unity of God.

Several comparisons have been used in an attempt to illustrate the Trinity: a simple musical chord (three notes, one sound), three glasses of water poured together to form one body of water, a triangle, a tripod, even the tri-unity of man (spirit, soul, body).

I used such illustrations in time past in preaching and teaching on God, but the Holy Spirit stopped me. Perhaps the most that can be said is that these things somehow vaguely hint at the general concept of unity in diversity, and diversity in unity. But that is all.

Whenever we say that God is "like" something, we immediately reduce God down to the level of the object to which we compare Him. God is infinitely greater than any attempt to explain or illustrate Him. Any attempt to illustrate what He is "like" misrepresents Him.

The attempt to represent God in some form or likeness results in idolatry, the degrading of God. For that reason God forbade Israel to make any likeness of God in the form of anything created (Exodus 20:4). God is not "like" anything. He is the "unlike anything" One.

When people say, "I like to think of God as..." they are forming a mental image of God. But a mental image of God can be a false god just as much as a metal image.

A common mistake is to build a concept of God out of the raw material of one's own experiences. If things go well, God is good. But if rough times come, or if tragedy strikes, God is mean or has failed. This is the way many form their ideas of God, and so create a distortion of Him.

God is not made out of the clay of subjective experiences, emotions and impressions. He is not someone for us to mold according to our personal tastes or standards. He is Who He is--beyond definition. Words, including inspired words, cannot communicate Him totally. This is why it is impossible to explain the Trinity. The Bible does not explain the fact of the Trinity, but only declares it.

Some passages of Scripture emphasize the essential unity and equality of the Persons of the adorable Godhead. Others teach that in the sustaining of relationships and in the allocation of administrative roles, some members of the Trinity occupy positions and exercise functions that are subordinate to the greater whole. This is a well-known principle of government and holds true even when all participants are equals. Functional subordination and essential equality--both truths are taught in Scripture and must be recognized if we are to have a proper understanding of the nature and relationships of the Holy Trinity.

If the full mystery of God could be comprehended within the framework of our finite minds, He would not be God. A God who could be fully understood by the human mind would be a very limited God. In that case He would not be God, because the terms "limited" and "God" are self-contradictory and mutually exclusive. Let it be emphasized--a God who is small enough for us to comprehend completely would be too small to be God.

The person who refuses to believe in God beyond the limits of his own human reason is not believing in God at all, but in his own reason. This is not to say that God is contrary to reason, or that belief in Him is anti-intellectual. Everything that God has revealed about Himself is in full harmony with reason and reality. Also, true intellectualism leads us to the conviction that there must be in the infinite God that which is beyond the limits of our reasoning capability. It is pseudo-intellectualism that leads to the folly described in Romans 1:21-25.

"When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever, Amen."

The New King James Version states verse 25 more clearly:

"who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator..."

Only the Divine reason is co-extensive with the Divine being. That is, only God fully understands Himself. To humble ourselves before Him and accept Him by faith as He has revealed Himself to be--this is the only intellectually and morally acceptable course for us. Even though we cannot know all about Him, through Jesus Christ we can know Him. This is our life and our joy.

What Are God’s Essential Qualities?

You might have noticed that "qualities" rather than "attributes" is used in the title of this chapter. The choice is deliberate. Attributes are what we think about God. That is, if we start from ourselves, what we conclude about God would be His attributes. They might or might not be true.

But we are not starting from ourselves. We are starting from God and His self-revelation. We are studying what God says about Himself and what God says about Himself He really is. So "qualities" is used because qualities are what something really is as distinct from what we say about it. We want to know God's revelation of Himself so exactly that what we ascribe to Him is true and correct.

God is beyond our comprehension, of course. We cannot know Him totally, but we can know Him and know Him correctly. What God has revealed about Himself is sufficient and accurate, and has been communicated to us by appropriate media and in intelligible forms.

This reminds us again of the necessity to approach God with all humility, confining our thinking about Him to what He says about Himself. Any departure from this principle becomes a point from which theology proper degenerates into the subjectivism and caricaturization for which human "god-makers" are so notorious. Therefore, we do well to focus our attention on what God has said about Himself.

God Is A Spirit.

Jesus said, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). God is an intelligent Person without a physical body. The artist has depicted Him as an old man with a long white beard. Of course, that is only the product of a creative imagination.

God is a spirit Being, not in an abstract, impersonal sense but in the definite and personal. "Now the Lord is that Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:17).

The Bible does speak frequently about God's eyes, hand, arm (even feathers!), but these are representative terms, meant to teach something about God in figures that have specific meaning for us. They do not teach that God has physical eyes, hands, or arms (much less feathers). We will consider these anthropomorphisms later.

God Is Invisible.

Because God is a spirit-being, He is invisible. Physical eyes see physical things. God is not physical; therefore the physical eye cannot see Him. When Moses requested to see the full glory of God, God replied, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live" (Exodus 33:20 NKJV).

John 1:18 says, "No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him." Jesus Christ is "the image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15). God is "the King eternal, immortal, invisible" (1 Timothy 1:17), "whom no man has seen, nor can see" (6:16).

God Is Eternal.

Because He is "the King Eternal," there never was a time when God was not, and there never will be a time when He will not be. God has no beginning and no ending. He always was, is, and forever shall be. He is eternally self-existent and the same (immutable as to His being). He declares, "I live forever" (Deuteronomy 32:40). He announces Himself as "the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy" (Isaiah 57:15).

"The Lord shall endure forever" (Psalm 9:7). "Thou, O Lord, remainest forever; thy throne from generation to generation (Lamentations 5:19). "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty" (Revelation 1:8).

The concept of no beginning and no ending is beyond our comprehension now because we think in a linear mode--straight backward into the past and straight forward into the future. We live in time and space. But with God there is no past, present, or future. He lives in the eternal now. "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deuteronomy 32:27).

God Is Omnipresent.

God is everywhere present at once. The inspired psalmist asks,

"Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me" (Psalm 139:7-10).

God asks, "Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? says the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? says the Lord" (Jeremiah 23:24).

Although He fills His creation, God is a Person distinct from His creation. God fills nature, but God is not nature and nature is not God. Who God is is one thing; what He fills is something else. We must beware of pagan pantheism ("God is everything; everything is God"), posing as a system of religious and/or metaphysical "science." Pantheism confuses God with His creation. It subjectivizes God and reduces Him down to abstractions. Such systems de-personalize God and therefore miss Him altogether. This is one of the errors of the so-called "New Age" philosophy. We do not find God by rummaging around in our psyche.

When the Bible says that God is love (1 John 4:16), it does not mean that God is composed of "love," or that love is God. It is simply describing God's moral character. Interpreting a predicate adjective as a predicate nominative is a mistake. Thus, "everywhere" is not (that is, does not compose) God; but God is (that is, He is present) everywhere.

God not only fills the heavens and the earth, but the heavens and the Heaven of heavens cannot contain Him (1 Kings 8:27). On a clear night focus your attention on a distant star on the horizon. Then in one steady sweep take in the grand panorama of the heavens, resting your gaze at last on a distant star on the opposite horizon. Consider how far it is from the one star to the other, keeping in mind that all the naked eye can see is but a tiny part of what is out there! Then pause to reflect on the fact that God is so infinite, so limitless, that the entire universe cannot contain Him. Oh, how great, how awesome is God!

Yet, in His omnipresence He is immediately present with each of us. No other person can be as close. He is not far from every one of us (Acts 17:27). He is "a very present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1).

God Is Omiscient.

God is all-knowing and all-wise. All facts are before Him and He totally comprehends each one. He knows in Himself, not by process. He fully knows the potential outcome of every possible course of action, and He always wills what is best. God sees everything and He pays total attention to everything He sees. Here is the testimony of Scripture:

"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5).

"For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he sees all his goings" (Job 34:21).

"Shall not God search this out? for he knows the secrets of the heart" (Psalm 44:21).

"The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good" (Proverbs 15:3).

"For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity concealed from My eyes" (Jeremiah 16:17 NASB).

"I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to every one according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds" (Jeremiah 17:10 NASB).

[God's] "eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings" (Jeremiah 32:19).

"Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, cries; and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth" (James 5:4. "Sabaoth" means "Hosts").

"Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight; but all things are naked and opened to the eyes of him with whom we have to do" (Hebrews 4:13).

"He who planted the ear, does He not hear? He who formed the eye, does He not see?" (Psalm 94:9 NASB).

God is not a casual observer. As the moral governor of the universe, He witnesses every act and He knows every motive. But, although He must and will punish sin, judgment is not the primary purpose of God's superintending view. "For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers" (1 Peter 3:12). And in 2 Chronicles 16:9 we read, "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him."

God sees the sparrow fall, and the hairs of our head are all numbered in His sight (Matthew 10:29,30). Every time we run a comb or brush through our hair and pull out a few, God notices the change in the total. That is how closely He watches over each one of us.

God has been watching over us from the moment of our conception. "Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Thy book they were all written" (Psalm 139:16 NASB).

They who commit abortion disregard the fact that they and the helpless little people they kill are under the watchful eye of the Creator.

The very limited scope of our personal human observation moves us at times to great sorrow and at other times to great joy. How greatly then must God be moved, both in sorrow and in joy, by all that He sees.

God's omniscience extends to every detail. Even our innermost thoughts are known to God. "The LORD searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts" (1 Chronicles 28:9). "You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off" (Psalm 139:2 NKJV). God says, "I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them" (Ezekiel 11:5).

God's omniscience includes complete and perfect foreknowlege. It is according to His foreknowledge that He established His purposes and His decrees.

Some deny the absolute foreknowledge of God on speculative grounds. Their reasoning is that if God foreknows everything, why does He not prevent evil from happening? The fact that evils do happen is due to "blind spots" in God's foreknowledge. He did not know they would happen; therefore, He is not to be blamed for not preventing them. Thus they attempt to "salvage" the character of God.

But in no way does God's foreknowledge discredit His goodness. Although He foreknows every evil, God does not prevent many of them simply because to do so would require measures that would not be wise in the situation. This is a period of probation, of human choice, a time for the testing and formation and expression of human character. One of its foremost features is divine forbearance and longsuffering (2 Peter 3:9). God has no intention of establishing a "police state" in this present gospel age. Judgment will come later.

It is interesting to note in passing that the very ones who blame God for not stopping others from sinning resolutely resist Him when He commands them to repent of their own sins. How they insist on their own freedom of choice! How they view any divine restraint upon their rebellion as interference with their rights!

In support of the notion that God has limited omniscience (a self-contradictory term), Genesis 22:12 is sometimes quoted: "now I know that thou fearest God..." But the Hebrew verb here is "have known."

The attempt to qualify or place a limit on God's foreknowledge misrepresents Him. In effect it denies His full deity. God foreknows absolutely, and His foreknowledge conditions His purposes and decrees. This does not mean that God's purposes are only reactions to what He foreknows. God acts, not reacts. It means simply that in His sovereignty God acts in full accord with all of His qualities, including His wisdom. Knowing this prevents us from erroneously ascribing to God an aribitrary fatalism.

"Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world" (Acts 15:18). (However this verse reads in the modern versions, the core truth of divine foreknowledge remains).

Referring to Jesus Christ, Peter declared, "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain" (Acts 2:23. See also 3:18).

Without the foreknowledge of God there would have been no Calvary. God did not gamble when He gave His Son to die on the cross. It was a deliberate act of His "counsel and foreknowledge." It is important to note that this verse also assumes human responsibility. Both divine sovereignty and human responsibility are recognized in Scripture.

Believers are "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father" (1 Peter 1:2). Most of the controversy over the relationship between divine sovereignty and human will results from not recognizing the proper role of God's foreknowledge. We are not foreknown according to God's election, but elect according to His foreknowledge.

This is not foreknowledge merely of what we would do, but of what He could do with us consistent with wisdom. Foreknowledge and election are one unit in the mind of God. One does not precede the other. With God they are simultaneous. God's character and His works maintain a beautiful and complete consistency throughout.

God foreknew those in Israel who would be saved. "God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew" (Romans 11:2).

Were it not for His foreknowledge, God could not be certain that anyone would accept His mercy through Jesus Christ. God did not send His Son to die on the cross in hope that somebody would believe and be saved, and then to figure out afterward what to do with them. Of course not. From eternity God has foreknown what His redemptive act in Christ would accomplish.

"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son" (Romans 8:29).

Jesus clearly stated that the Father foreknows the day and the hour of the Son's return:

"But of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only" (Matthew 24:36).

Our heavenly Father knows what things we have need of before we ask Him (Matthew 6:8). So, before we call He will answer, and while we are yet speaking He will hear (Isaiah 65:24).

Nothing can come into our lives that God has not fully anticipated. Before the worlds were created, God knew every situation that you would face and everything that people would do to you; and He has known all along exactly what to do about it and how to make it work together for your good if you will trust and obey. Because God knows how to make all things work together for the good of His elect, nothing and nobody can prevent the believer from succeeding. God has so many ways of handling the situation that the believer cannot lose. So let us relax, trust God, and let Him work things out for the good.

Let us remember that God is omniscient. He is perfect not only in His knowledge and foreknowledge, but also in His wisdom and understanding.

"Great is our Lord, and of great power; his understanding is infinite" (Psalm 147:5).

"The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens" (Proverbs 3:19 NASB).

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable (Isaiah 40:28 NASB. See also Isaiah 28:29).

"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of od! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" (Romans 16:27)

"To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen" (Romans 16:27).

No thought, word or act can be hidden from God. He knows our hearts, our motives, our secrets; and some day He will reveal it all. Yes, the Father sees in secret (Matthew 6:4,6).

God Is Omnipotent.

God is all-powerful.

"Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all" (1 Chronicles 29:11,12).

"Ah, Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee" (Jeremiah 32:17).

"Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is there anything too hard for me?" (verse 27).

Jesus said that with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). He prayed, "Father, all things are possible unto thee" (Mark 14:36).

The angel Gabriel assured Mary, "For with God nothing shall be impossible" (Luke 1:37).

Jesus assures us, "My Father is greater than all" (John 10:29). God is greater than we can possibly comprehend. We cannot begin to imagine how great He really is. He is infinite in His greatness and power. This fact He has revealed to us in creation and in the Scriptures.

Our comprehension of God's greatness will always be far less than the full reality of that greatness. As Christians, our awareness of the greatness of God can and will continue to grow without any fear that it will ever surpass the reality.

Yes, God is greater than we think. And think we should. God wants us to think about Him, to think Biblically about Him, to think BIG about Him. God wants to expand our awareness of His greatness, because the measure of our faith depends on the measure of our correct awareness of His greatness.

God wants to be bigger in our lives than we have allowed Him to be. How big is God to you? That is how big your faith is. That is how big you have allowed Him to be in your life. God will be just as big in our lives as our faith allows Him to be, and that depends largely on how much we become aware of His true greatness.

The fullness of God's ability is revealed in the Scriptures. The three Hebrews were confident that "our God whom we serve is able to deliver us" (Daniel 3:17). John the Baptist told the people that "God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham" (Luke 3:8). Romans 4:21 reports that Abraham was "fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform."

"God is able to make all grace abound toward you" (2 Corinthians 9:8). Jude 24 assures us that "God is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy."

God is able to make the weak brother stand (Romans 14:4). He is able to save to the uttermost (completely and forever), according to Hebrews 7:25. Paul declares, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day" (2 Timothy 1:12). He "is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us" (Ephesians 3:20). And in Philippians 3:20 the word of God proclaims that "he is able even to subdue all things unto himself."

No matter what the need or the situation, GOD IS ABLE. Hallelujah! The Lord God omnipotent is our strength.

In Heaven the combined voices of God's servants thunder like the sound of many waters: "Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!" (Revelation 19:6).

"God is my strength and power" (2 Samuel 22:33).

"God is our refuge and strength" (Psalm 46:1).

"The Lord is my strength and song" (Exodus 15:2).

"The Lord is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed" (Psalm 28:8).

"My flesh and my heart fail: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever" (Psalm 73:26).

"Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee" (Psalm 84:5).

Now, only He Who possesses these three natural qualities--omnipotence, omnipresence, and omiscience--can be God. A limited God is a contradiction, an absurdity. Paganism has a hierarchy of "gods" of varying degrees of power. But they who have received God's revelation of Himself know that the term, "God," by the very nature of the concept, can be applied truly only to an unlimited, infinite Being, and that only God in His three Persons possesses these qualities. Only God can be God.

By His spoken word, God created billions of stars and set them in orderly motion in their orbits. He spoke, and the foundations of the earth were laid. He set the boundaries of the seas and the limits of the oceans. He pushed up the mountain ranges and scouped out the valleys. He then took the finest of the clay and shaped it. He released His breath, and man became a living soul, created in the image of God!

God keeps the universe in perfect synchronization. He guides the courses of the heavens, directing the gigantic spheres of galaxies both known and as yet undiscovered by man!

And God, Who made and directs it all by the word of His power, stands ready now to bring the power of His word--the power that moves the heavens--into your life to meet your need, fulfil His promises, save your soul, heal your body, lift you up, set you free, and make you more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ!

Yes, "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." Trust Him. Believe His word. He cannot fail!

chapters 4-5