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 An online correspondence course We believe that there is a God because we see evidence of him everywhere about us. But had God not chosen to reveal himself to man, we would have no way of determining his nature. In this lesson we will explore those characteristics of the supreme being revealed by the Bible. ETERNITY. When God called Moses to deliver the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, Moses asked, "Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, the God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." (Exodus 3:13, 14.) God later explained to Moses, "And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them." (Exodus 6:3.) The unusual term "I AM" and the name "JEHOVAH" are from the same root in the Hebrew language and express the idea of "the one who is" or "the existing one." In the name Jehovah, then, it is clearly implied that God is eternal. God has always been, and he always will be. He is without beginning or end. Where did God come from? He didn't come from anywhere. He has always existed. Accustomed as we are to measuring things in terms of time and place, this is hard to grasp. But unlike human beings, God is unlimited in time. SPIRIT. To the woman he met at Jacob's well Jesus said, "God is a Spirit." (John 4:24.) What is a spirit? We don't know altogether, but a spirit is not a physical being. After he was raised from the dead Jesus said to the disciples, "Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." (Luke 24:39.) To describe a spirit in terms of the material is impossible. Since we have never seen a spirit, we cannot fully appreciate such a nature. "No man hath seen God at any time." (John 1:18.) However, as we learn some of God's other characteristics, we will also learn some additional things about his spiritual qualities. UNITY. There is but one God. Moses told his people, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord." (Deut. 6:4.) Here, as in most places in the King James and other versions, the Hebrew word for "Jehovah" is rendered "Lord." The American Standard Version says, "Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah." Again we read, "The Lord, he is God; there is none else beside him." (Deut. 4:35.) Although there is but one God, there are three persons (or personalities) in the Godhead -- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The fulness of God dwells in each. Of the Son it is said, "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." (Col. 2:9.) The term "God" is applied to each of the three, "God" being an expression of deity rather than a proper name. In the first verse of the Bible the concept of a plurality of persons in the one God is expressed: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." (Gen. 1:1.) The Hebrew subject is plural, the verb singular, suggesting a plurality in one. Then in Genesis 1:26 Jehovah expressed the same idea in saying, "Let us make man in our image." There are two extreme attitudes respecting the unity of God. One is tritheism, the teaching that because we read of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit there must be three Gods. This contradicts the many passages that affirm the oneness of God. On the other hand, the so-called "Jesus Only" idea denies the plurality of persons in the one God by contending that there is no distinction between the Father and the Son. As the Son is now at the right hand of God (1 Peter 3:22, Col. 3:1.), they must be distinct personalities. Furthermore, on the night of his betrayal Jesus prayed to the Father requesting for his disciples "that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us." (John 17:21.) While the unity of God is stressed in this petition, the distinction between Father and Son is evident. One cannot pray to himself. OMNISCIENCE. That God is omniscient simply means that his knowledge is unlimited. We read, "For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things." (1 John 3:20.) "Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite." (Psalm 147:5.) "The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good." (Prov. 15:3.) God's knowledge even extends to little, insignificant things about us. "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered." (Matt. 10:29, 30.) He knows our thoughts and everything about our lives. "Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether." (Psalm 139:2-4.) He is acquainted with our sorrows and our needs, and being a God of compassion, he is interested in our trials. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his way past finding out!" (Rom. 11:33.) OMNIPOTENCE. One of the Bible terms used to describe Jehovah is God Almighty. We are told, "And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the ALmighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect." (Gen. 17:1.) The expression "Almighty" tells us that there is no limit to God's power, or, as it is often phrased, God is omnipotent. In a vision of the heavenly scene depicted in Revelation 19:6 a great multitude cries out, "Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." By this omnipotence God created the world. By the same omnipotence he caused biblical miracles to be performed. Men have difficulty in accepting the fact of these miracles because they first deny God's omnipotence. But Jesus says, "With God all things are possible." (Matt. 19:26.) OMNIPRESENCE. As the eternity of God means that he is unlimited in time, his omniscience informs us that he is unlimited in knowledge, and his omnipotence says that he is unlimited in power, so the omnipresence of God declares that he is unlimited in space. God is present everywhere. Finite beings that we are, we cannot fully comprehend this idea, but we accept it by faith because the scriptures so teach. Jehovah asks, "Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord." (Jer. 23:23, 24.) The Psalmist sings, "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 Sheol, 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 - A.S.V.) Because God is always present, we know that he is never far from us. Paul informed his pagan audience on Mars' Hill in Athens "that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring." (Acts 17:27, 28.) IMMUTABILITY. God's immutability is his unchangeable nature. Of Christ it is said, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever." (Heb. 13:8.) The same is true of the entire Godhead. God was the same in Old Testament times as when Jesus walked the earth. His methods and covenants with man have changed, but his principles are eternal and his character unalterable. Jehovah says, "For I am the Lord, I change not." (Mal. 3:6.) James declares, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James 1:17.) David says, "Of old has thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end." (Psalm 102:25-27.) FAITHFULNESS. The immutability of God suggests another attribute - his faithfulness. If God cannot change, then it follows that he keeps his promises. The Hebrew writer says that we may rely on the promises of God because "by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." (Heb. 6:18.) The two immutable things he mentions are God's promise and his oath. He concludes that since God changes in neither, we may rely upon his faithfulness. The omnipotence of God further guarantees his faithfulness. Men make promises which they find themselves unable to carry out. But there is nothing which God determines to do which he cannot perform. (See Romans 4:20, 21.) The omniscience and holiness of God assure us that his promises are not only sure, but that they are also right. In his holiness God can do no wrong; in his omniscience he possesses the wisdom to know those things which are right. Many other passages declare the faithfulness of God. "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised.)" (Heb. 10:23.) "But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil." (2 Thess. 3:3.) "For 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 Tim. 1:12.) Any man who appreciates in a small way the nature of God must declare with David, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it." (Psalm 139:6.) God cannot be circumscribed by the words or thoughts of man because truly he is the great "I AM." Match the words on the left with the definitions on the right by writing the number of the definition in the corresponding blank:
True or false:
After each scripture write the characteristic of God indicated in that passage -- eternity, spirit, unity, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, immutability, or faithfulness. Each is used at least once. Where more than one characteristic is mentioned two blanks are supplied:
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