Who is God?

Who is God?

Jesus began his ministry with the words, “Repent and Believe.“

“After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” Mark 1:14,15

God commands us to repent and believe the gospel. He commands us turn from our sin and trust him. He commands us to trust him for salvation, and trust him for everything, we will ever need, for the rest our lives.

So who is this God who commands us to trust him? Is he trustworthy? Is he all-powerful? Is he loving and kind? Who is God? It may be the most important question you ever ask.

Many people think the Bible is a book about man, buts it’s more than that. The Bible is a book about God. It’s a revelation of his character, his nature. HE is main the subject of the Bible.  In fact, the words “Lord” and “God” appear over 11,000 times in the Bible, more than any other nouns in the Bible.

What does the Bible say about God? I’ve read it cover-to-cover more than 25 times. I’ve been studying it for 40 years, and here’s what I’ve discovered about the nature of God.

God is Good

God is kind, compassionate, loving, gracious, forgiving, generous and merciful. He is a perfectly loving father. He is on your side, pulling for you, routing for you and he loves you deeply. He is the epitome of goodness.

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Psalm 34:8

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever. Psalm 136:1

He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Matthew 5:45

A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.” Luke 18:18,19

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Every good and perfect gift is from above. James 1:17

God is by nature good. He defines all goodness. Everything good in your life is a gift from a very good God.

God is Just

God is perfectly fair and just. Because he is just, he sees to it that all wrongs are punished. If you’ve been wronged, God’s knows it, and he will see to it that the wrongdoer is eventually punished. If you’ve wronged others, God’s knows it, and he will see to it that you also are eventually punished. He will not ignore ANY wrongdoing, any injustice. If you were innocent, he’s the judge you would want to face “in court” on judgement day. If you are guilty (and we all are), he’s the judge you don’t want to face “in court” on judgement day, because you will not get off on a technicality. He is no respecter of persons, and he can’t be bribed. God is a perfectly just judge.

The LORD is known by his acts of justice. Psalm 9:16

For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice. Psalm 11:7

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Psalm 89:14

He comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity. Psalm 98:9

The King is mighty, he loves justice. Psalm 99:4

The Lord detests dishonest scales, but accurate weights find favor with him. Proverbs 11:1

I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and wrongdoing. Isaiah 61:8

Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone. Luke 11:42

God is by nature just. Justice is built into his throne. He is the definition of perfect justice.

God is Omniscient

God knows everything. Unlike us, he doesn’t learn anything new. God has perfect knowledge. He doesn’t have any memory problems. He has perfect recall. He knows what every person on planet earth is thinking and doing right now. He knows everything you’ve done in the past, and he knows everything you’ll think and do for every day of the rest of your life. He can foretell the future with perfect accuracy, because knows the future, all of it.

Deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know every human heart). 1 Kings 8:39

The LORD searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. 1 Chronicles 28:9

O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or  stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. Psalm 139:1-4

He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. Psalm 147:4,5

I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise with carved idols. Everything I prophesied has come true, and now I will prophesy again. I will tell you the future before it happens.” Isaiah 42:8,9

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” ³⁹ But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. ⁴⁰ For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Matthew 12:38-40

As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside privately and told them what was going to happen to him. “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die. Then they will hand him over to the Romans to be mocked, flogged with a whip, and crucified. But on the third day he will be raised from the dead.” Matthew 20:17-19

Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. ²³ This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. Acts 2:22,23

God is omniscient. Nothing surprises him, including the future. He’s the only real “know-it-all.”

God is Omnipotent

God is all-powerful. He is so powerful, he created the entire universe by simply speaking it into existence.

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. Psalm 33:6

Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Isaiah 40:26

With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please. Jeremiah 27:5

 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” Mark 4:37-41

“Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. John 19:10,11

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 people are without excuse. Romans 1:20

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know… his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead. Ephesians 1:18-20

God is omnipotent and he has no equal.

God is Omnipresent

God is everywhere at the same time. Unlike us, he’s not limited by time or space. 

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. Psalm 139:7-13

The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good. Proverbs 15:3

“Am I only a God nearby,” declares the Lord, “and not a God far away? Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the Lord. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 23:23,24

God is omnipresent. He was there when you were conceived in the womb, and he is as near as you’re desire to seek him today.

God is Holy

Unlike you and I, God has never sinned. He is pure, holy, spotless and perfect. He has no character flaws, and he’s never done anything wrong.

When the Lord saw that he had gone for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. Exodus 3:4-6

I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy. Leviticus 11:45

You must be holy because I, the Lord, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own. Leviticus 20:26

Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy. Psalm 99:5

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” Isaiah 6:1-3

The Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name. Luke 1:49

God is incomparably holy. His holiness is a like a consuming fire. He has a holy and pure anger towards sin, which is anti-holy. He is so pure and so holy, that man can never approach him without a spotless, blameless intermediary.

God is Self-Sufficient

God doesn’t need anything. He is by nature self-sufficient. He didn’t create mankind because he needed us. He created us simply because he wanted us, and it brought him pleasure.

Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me. Job 41:11

I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. If I were hungry I would not  tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Psalm 50:9-12

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Acts 17:24,25

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. Hebrews 11:3

Our resources are limited, but God’s are unlimited. God owns everything. He never runs out of anything, but if he did, he would just create more of it… out of nothing!

God is Eternal

Unlike us, God was not created. He’s been around forever.

The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. Deuteronomy 33:27

Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity. Psalm 93:2

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. Isaiah 57:15

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Timothy 1:17

We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 1 John 1:1

“I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.” Revelation 1:8

You and I had a beginning, but God didn’t, because he is eternal.

God is Immutable

God never changes. His nature has been the same forever.

God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? Numbers 23:19

He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind. 1 Samuel 15:29

God, who is enthroned from of old… does not change. Psalm 55:19

I the LORD do not change. Malachi 3:6

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

People change their minds and break their promises. People will hurt you and even betray you, but God won’t. He never changes and he keeps his promises. He may change his methods, but his nature never changes. He’s been the same throughout eternity past, and he will be the same throughout eternity future.

God is Mysterious

Although there are many things about God we understand, there is much we don’t. God reveals his nature to us, but he doesn’t reveal everything about himself or his plans. 

Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens above—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths below—what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea. Job 11:7-9

God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. Job 37:5

LORD, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I don’t concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp. Psalm 131:1

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the  everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. Isaiah 40:28

Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! Romans 11:33

We declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸ None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Corinthians 2:7,8

There are some aspects of God that are a mystery, that we may never understand.

Do You Trust Him?

So who is this God who commands you to trust him? He’s an all-knowing God who anticipates everything in your life – everything good, bad, and everything in between. Nothing surprises him. He’s an all-powerful God, who can deliver you from any adversity. He’s a mysterious God who allows you to endure adversity for a greater good. He can mysteriously bring good out of any pain, disappointment or evil you face. He snatches victory from the jaws of any defeat.

He’s a holy God, who would never lie to you, and he’ll always tells you the truth. He’s been around forever, he’s always been holy, because he never changes. Unlike us, he keeps his promises.

He’s a good God, who loves you dearly. He’s your greatest advocate, the best friend you’ll ever have, and he’d even lay day his life for you and pay your penalty. In fact he did, on Good Friday… today.

The God who commands you and I to trust him is very, very worthy of our trust.