Who is the God of the Bible?
Who is the God of the Bible? God claims that the Bible is His word and that He inspired or gave the message to those He chose to write it, “All Scripture is breathed out by God…” (2 Timothy 3:16). God also says that His word is true, “Every word of God proves true…” (Proverbs 30:5). This is very interesting because, as the author of the Bible, God tells us a great deal about Himself in the Bible.
The first thing we learn about God, when we begin reading the Bible is that He is the creator of the heavens and earth and all life that exists on the earth and in the heaven, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). In fact, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalms 19:1) As the architect of such a complex creation, God is filled with wisdom and knowledge that we cannot comprehend, “The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens…” (Proverbs 3:19); “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).
As the Creator, God tells us that He alone is immortal, without beginning or ending and that He is invisible to humankind, “… he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen” (1 Timothy 6:15-16). Although the Bible speaks of God as having a physical form, most likely to assist us in identifying with him, Jesus says that God, his Father is spirit, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). This also tells us that God wants us to worship Him the way He wants us to worship Him.
God was able to create because of His immense wisdom, knowledge and power, which far exceeds that of those whom He created. However, God is a personal God and He wants a relationship with humankind, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness'” (Genesis 1:26). His desire to is ultimately dwell with humankind, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God'” (Revelation 21:3). God not only wants a relationship with His creation, but He has a purpose with the earth. He also, says that He is the only God and there are no others, “For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): ‘Iam the LORD, and there is no other.'” (Isaiah 45:18)
As we continue reading throughout the Bible, God tells us about His character when He revealed his glory and proclaimed His name, “The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation'” (Exodus 34:6-7). This is summed up in the New Testament, “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4:16). Not only is God the essence of love, His relationship with humankind requires that we love and abide in His love.
God manifested Himself in His son Jesus Christ. Jesus was born of a woman named Mary and he was to be “Emmanuel” or “God with us”: “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us)” (Matthew 1:21-23). In fact, Jesus so perfectly demonstrated his Father’s character and followed His word so carefully, that it was said of him, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). In one of his prayers to his heavenly Father, Jesus declared that he had manifested God’s name to the people and expressed the close relationship the Father, Jesus and the believers had together, “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me” (John 17:6-8).
The God of the Bible is all knowing, all powerful, everywhere present and eternal. He created the earth to be inhabited by His creation, but He wants humankind to love Him and one another, just as He is love. God sent His son, Jesus to manifest His name and character and to provide hope and salvation because God desires to dwell with His creation.
If we desire to abide with God and be given eternal life in order to dwell with Him, it is essential with we turn to the Bible to come to know God, the Father, and Jesus Christ His son, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).
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