1). God is the Everlasting Creator

The Bible tells us that God is ‘from everlasting to everlasting’ (Psalm 90.2; 106.48). That means that He has always existed, that there has never been a time when He was not, for beyond time and space, there was God. It also means that the Lord will ‘abide for ever, and the memory of him to all generations’ (Psalm 102.12), for He is the One who ‘inhabits eternity’ (Isaiah 57.15), He is from everlasting to everlasting. And this is a great comfort to His people, for, as Deuteronomy reminds us, ‘the eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms’ (Deuteronomy 33.27).

The first act of God that we know about was that He ‘created the heavens and the earth’ (Genesis 1.1). This was accomplished by His powerful word (Psalm 33.6), for God spoke and it was created. So He is ‘the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth’ (Isaiah 40.28), ‘the living God Who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them’ (Acts 14.15). He is the eternal Creator, the Controller of all things, and we are thus reminded to ‘remember now your creator in the days of your youth’ (Ecclesiastes 12.1), for one day we will be responsible to Him.

This creation speaks to men so that they are without excuse if they fail to believe in Him, ‘for the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead’ (Romans 1.20). So they are without excuse, for ‘the Heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handywork’ (Psalm 19.1).

But the Bible also tells us that His creative Word was in some sense personal. The Word already existed in the beginning, was in close relationship with God and indeed was Himself God (John 1.1 ). But He humbled Himself and became flesh (John 1.14) and made His home among us. John the Apostle says of Him, ‘we saw His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father’ (John 1.14) and he refers to John the Baptiser as having borne witness to Him (John 1.15). Who then was this living and eternal Word? There was only One to whom John the Baptiser bore witness and that was Jesus, the Son of God (John 1.29-34). As Paul could say, ‘for by Him were all things created in the heavens and upon the earth’ (Colossians 1.16), and ‘all things have been created through Him and for Him’ (Colossians 1.16). He was the Word through Whom God created.

But He was also the Word through Whom God spoke. The writer to the Hebrews tells us that, while in the past He had spoken through many, it was through Jesus Christ that God finally spoke (Hebrews 1.2). Furthermore it is the same Jesus Christ Himself Who upholds all things by His powerful word (Hebrew 1.3), so that in Colossians Paul can tell us that ‘He is before all things and that through Him all things hold together’ (Colossians 1.17).

So God is the One Who is from everlasting to everlasting, dwelling in eternity, the Creator and Upholder of all things through Christ Jesus our Lord.

2). God is One

The people of Israel were taught to say ‘the Lord our God, the Lord is one’ (Deuteronomy 6.4), and Solomon desired ‘that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord, He is God, and there is no other’ (1 Kings 8.60). Paul agrees with this when he says, ‘there is one God, and one mediator between God and men’ (1 Timothy 2.5). However James warns that it is not enough just to believe in one God. ‘You believe that God is one. You do well. The devils also believe and tremble’ (James 2.19). But one day all the world will acknowledge the oneness of God, for Zechariah tells us ‘and the Lord shall be king over all the earth, and in that day shall the Lord be one, and His name one’ (Zechariah 14.9). These declarations were a denial of polygamy, of numerous individual gods who acted totally separately from each other. It is also why Father, Son and Holy Spirit are seen as having but the one name (Matthew 28.19).

For the Bible teaches that God is One, but that within God is a threeness which involves interpersonal relations, interpersonal communication and love, defined as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28.19). They are in essence One, and act as one, and as we noted, have one Name (Matthew 28.19). Yet they are a threeness, working in full unity of aim and action, and yet with a certain degree of separateness. Thus the Father speaks to the Son (e.g. Luke 3.22; John 8.26; 12.28), the Son prays to the Father (e.g. Luke 22.42; John 12.28; John 17.1), and both act through the Spirit. That is why Jesus can say ‘ I will pray the Father and He will give you another Ideal Helper’ (John 14.16) (that is another apart from Jesus), ----- ‘even the Spirit of truth’ (John 14.17). Yet each enjoys the whole fulness and essence of the Godhead. Thus ‘in Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead in a bodily form’ (Colossians 2.9 compare 1.19).

3). In Himself God is Great and Unknowable

The Psalmist declares ‘Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, His greatness is unsearchable’ (Psalm 145.3). For He ‘does great things and unsearchable’ (Job 5.9) which are ‘past finding out, yes, marvellous things without number (Job 9.10). And Paul can say ‘how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out’ (Romans 11.33). So God is the great Unknowable and the All-wise One, so that Paul can add ‘for who has known the mind of the Lord, and who has been His counsellor?’ (Romans 11.34). As Deuteronomy tells us, ‘the secret things belong to the Lord our God’ (Deuteronomy 29.29).

When Solomon built the Temple he declared ‘even the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built’ (1 Kings 8.27). Thus God could say ‘Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool’ (Isaiah 66.1), and add ‘all these things my hand has made, and thus all these things came to be’ (Isaiah 66.2) - compare Acts 7.48-49. That is why in Jeremiah God can say ‘Do I not fill Heaven and earth?’ (Jeremiah 23.24).

4). God is Unseeable and Unapproachable

The Bible tells us that God is ‘the invisible God’ (Colossians 1.15), so that ‘no man has God at any time’ (John 1.18). Indeed He is the One Whom ‘no man has seen nor can see’ (1 Timothy 6.16), for He ‘dwells in unapproachable light’ (1 Timothy 6.16). There have been ways in which God has partially revealed Himself. When Abraham was in a deep sleep so that a horror of great darkness fell on him (Genesis 15.12) God revealed Himself in ‘a smoking furnace’ and ‘a flaming torch’ (Genesis 15.17). Again He revealed Himself to Moses as ‘a flame of fire’ in a burning bush which burned and was not consumed (Exodus 3.2). A similar vision was granted Israel when God descended on Mount Sinai in fire and the smoke of a furnace (Exodus 19.18), so that the appearance of the glory of the Lord was as a devouring fire on the top of the mountain, which was covered by a cloud (Exodus 24.17). Notice how similar this was to Abraham’s experience. But these revelations, although awe-inspiring, were only partial, for when Moses asked to be shown God’s glory, God replied ‘you cannot see my face, for a man shall not see my face and live’ (Exodus 33.20). Two men who were granted visions of God were Isaiah and Ezekiel. Isaiah said ‘I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne’ (Isaiah 6.1) and the effect on him was such that he could only cry out ‘woe is me, for I am undone’ (Isaiah 6.5), but his view was only distant, for the Lord was ‘high and lifted up’ (Isaiah 6.1). And when Ezekiel was granted his visions he described God as, ‘as it were, the appearance of fire, and there was brightness round about him’ (Ezekiel 1.27), then he adds, ‘this was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord’ (Ezekiel 1.28). The description of fire and glory were used many times to describe appearances of God both on the tabernacle (e.g. Numbers 9.15-16) and on the Temple (e.g. 2 Chronicles 7.1; Ezekiel 10.4). But in all this God was using physical phenomena to reveal only something of His glory.

God has also revealed Himself to man through ‘the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world which are clearly seen, being perceived through the things which are made, that is His eternal power and Godhood’ (Romans 1.20). Creation reveals the activity of the great Architect and Designer. For ‘the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament reveals His handywork’ (Psalm 19.1). He is also revealed through beauty, through things of delight, through the mind of man and through his conscience.

However, His greatest revelation of Himself was in Jesus Christ. John could say of Jesus Christ, ‘we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father’ (John 1.14). And he reminds us that He is the One who, as the only begotten Son, is in the closest possible relationship with the Father, and has made Him known (John 1.18). This revelation was partly through His life and teaching, for He could say ‘he who has seen me has seen the Father’ (John 14.9), and partly through that unique moment when He was ‘transfigured before them’ (Mark 9.2) so that even His clothes became ‘glistering, exceeding white, as no launderer on earth could make them’ (Mark 9.3). But in all these revelations it is made clear that in the reality of His being God is the one ‘whom no man has seen or can see’ (1 Timothy 6.16). He can be known spiritually and morally, but He cannot be seen in the fulness of His glory, for, as He said to Moses, ‘ man shall not see my face and live’ (Exodus 33.20).

We notice then that all the visions were impersonal. What was revealed, apart from in Jesus, was not the essential being of God, but manifestations which gave some impression of His glory, for God Himself is the invisible God, and His essence is beyond the scope of man’s ability to see and comprehend. Any attempts to depict Him in statues and images merely degrade and misrepresent Him, which is why they were, and are, strictly forbidden.

5). God is Spirit and not Physical

The Bible tells us that God is not only the invisible God, but that he is also ‘the eternal King, incorruptible and invisible, the only God’ (1 Timothy 1.17). Indeed one reason why all images of God were condemned was because He is ‘the God who cannot experience corruption’ (Romans 1.23). Indeed by His very nature that is so for ‘God is Spirit’ (John 4.24), so that men must worship Him, not in a visible form, but in ‘spirit and in truth’ (John 4.24). As Paul says, ‘The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom’ (1 Corinthians 3.17). That is why the tabernacle contained an empty throne, the ark of the covenant, for the One Whose throne it was could not be seen.

6). God is All-Knowing

The Bible tells us that God is also ‘a God of knowledge, by Whom actions are weighed’ (1 Samuel 2.3). For ‘the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, He weighs carefully all his paths’ (Proverbs 5.21), and ‘with Him is wisdom and might and He has counsel and understanding’ (Job 12.13). Though men may say ‘my way is hidden from the Lord ’ (Isaiah 40.27), this is totally untrue, for ‘there is no searching of His understanding’ (Isaiah 40.28). He is the One who is ‘perfect in knowledge’ (Job 37.16), so that He looks right inside man in the deepest places of his being. For ‘man looks at outward appearance but God looks at the heart’ (1 Samuel 16.7). There is nothing hidden from Him. ‘For the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts’ (1 Chronicles 28.9). Which is why David declares ‘you know my sitting down and my standing up, you understand my thoughts from a distance, you are acquainted with all my ways’ (Psalm 139.2-3). And again, ‘there is not a word on my tongue, but lo, Oh Lord, you know it altogether’ (Psalm 139.4). Indeed He is the One Who searches the heart and tests the reins (Jeremiah 17.10), so that ‘all things are open to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do’ (Hebrews 4.13). That is why God can ask, ‘Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I will not see him?’ (Jeremiah 23.24).

Yet this is also to be seen as a comfort for those who are His, for ‘He knows the way that I take so that when He has tried me I will come forth as gold ’ (Job 23.10). ‘He has given us to be in security, and His eyes are upon our ways’ (Job 24.23). He is the One who sees all our ways and knows all our steps (Job 31.4), and He knows the way of the righteous (Psalm 1.6), so that all our ways are before Him (Psalm 119.168) and He considers all our works (Psalm 33.15).

So whether men do ill or well they may be sure that God sees and knows, for ‘the Lord looks from Heaven, He sees all the sons of men, from the place of His habitation he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth’ (Psalm 33.13-14). Even our times are in His hands for He knows the days of the perfect and their inheritance will be for ever (Psalm 37.18).

Thus He is all wise and all knowing, and inscrutable, which is why Paul can declare, ‘Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out’ (Roman 11.33).

IS THERE SOMETHING IN THE BIBLE THAT PUZZLES YOU?