What Is God Like?
John Blanchard
To acknowledge that God exist is one thing, and to acknowledge him in the general sense that God speaks to us in creation and through the pages of the Bible is another. But truth to be told, we do need to know more. What is God like? The Bible gives us many clear and positive answers to this important question. Here are a few of them.
1. God is personal: God is not a ‘thing’, power’ or influence’. He thinks, he feels, he desires and acts in ways that shows him to be a real living person being. But he is not just ‘the man upstairs’ or some kind of superman’ “The LORD is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal king.
2. God is one: There is only one true God. He says “I am the first and the last; apart from me, there is no other God”. A very powerful statement indeed, but a powerful statement only God can make that is truth. Yet God has revealed himself a ‘trinity’ of three person – The father – The Son ”Jesus Christ” – and the Holy spirit, each of whom is truly ,fully and equally God. The bible speaks of the glory of God the Father; it’s says that the Word (Jesus Christ) was God; and it speaks of the Lord, who is the Spirit. While there is only one God, there are three persons in the Godhead. Hence the trinity comes into place. TRI – meaning 3. Example, Triangle, 3 sides to make a pyramid. Trio band, meaning 3 persons in a music band. And you will read and hear many more wording starting with Tri, meaning 3 according to the subject. Although the Bible does not say the word Trinity, but the meaning of the trinity or three persons as one, clearly speaks in the Bible.
3. God is spiritual: He has no physical dimensions. He does not have a body, nor does he have any characteristics that can be defined in terms of size and shape. I have heard some people asking what God looks like, how tall is he, what size is he. God is a spirit, that’s final; there is no physical or characteristics that can be seen physically with our own eyes. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. This means that God is invisible. No one, not one person has ever seen God. It also means that he is not confined to one place at a time, but is everywhere at all time: ‘Do I not fill heaven and earth?’ Declares the LORD. Quite apart from anything else, this means that God is fully aware of everything that happens everywhere. This includes not only everything you do or say, but every thought that passes through your mind. Hard to grasp isn’t it?
4. God is eternal: God has no beginning. In the Bible’s words, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. There never was a time when God did not exist and there never will be a time when he will not exist. I know, a bit confusing. But it will come clear. God declares himself as one who is, and who was, and is to come. And he remains eternally the same: ‘I the LORD do not change’. All that God ever was he still is and always will be.
5. God is Holy: He is majestic in holiness, awesome in power and glory. There can be no comparison with the holiness of God. There is no one Holy like the LORD, who is utterly without fault or defect. The Bible says of him, your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. And his holy God demands holiness from every one of us. His command to us today is: Be holy, because I am holy.
These are just a few sketches of some of the things God has revealed in the Bible about his own nature and character. There are lots more in the Bible as you read through it. But there are some things about him we cannot possibly understand. He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. In that sense, the Almighty is beyond our reach and no amount of human intelligence put together or reasoning can ever change that. This should hardly surprise us. If we could understand God he would be unworthy of our worship.
