"Immanuel - God with us."

God

The Bible uses many words and phrases to describe the nature of God. In this section, five descriptive words will be discussed: eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and Trinity.

In this section, we will look at God as He is within Himself (“ontologically”), and in a later section we will look at God as He relates to His creation (“economically” – i.e. His providence, love, wrath, etc.).

1. God is eternal. God is not limited by time. God told Moses, “I Am who I Am” (Exodus 3:14). Not having time restraints is a tricky concept for most of us to absorb because it is difficult, if not impossible, to think of anything not related to the past, present or future. We think of a beginning and an end, or at least a beginning.

I understand the word “eternal” to mean no beginning and no end. Everlasting”, on the other hand, means a beginning with no end. This is the reason we are promised everlasting life. Human beings have a beginning. Only God is eternal.

God created everything in the physical world. God also created all that is in the spirit world – angels and demons, even Satan himself. (More later on this one!)

Robert Jastrow, a well-known astronomer, is quoted in an article (“How Scientific Research Is Conditioned By Worldview”) by Sergei Simferopol in which Jastrow traced the origins of the universe back in time to what is generally known as the “Big Bang”. Jastrow wrote that scientists discovered evidence for a colossal explosion and that scientists reluctantly gave up alternative theories about the origin of the universe. He addressed what he thought the philosophical and theological implications of the Big Bang might be.

Then Jastrow wrote, “"For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries."

Where did “it” (God or the physical universe) come from?

Those who do not believe in an eternal personal God as well as those who believe in an eternal personal God have to answer the same question: And surprisingly both non-believers and believers give the very same answer: “It" (God or the physical universe) has always existed.

So we are left with observable evidence for the answer to the question, “Where did it come from?” Each one of us applies our intellect and reason (and, if we would admit it, our prejudices), and then we conclude, as a matter of faith in both instances; a personal providential God does not exist, or a personal providential God exists.

Either answer is a matter of faith. Hopefully, you have made your unbiased decision based on evidence. The Bible declares that God is eternal (I Timothy 1:17).

2. God is omniscient. God is all knowing. (I John 3:20) Jesus said that nothing escapes the knowledge of God, not a bird falling from the sky or the exact number of hairs on the head of each human being. This sounds like a lot of information for one to have. But for God, this knowledge is quite elementary.

God knows everything about the past, the present and the future. This is the reason the prophets accurately revealed both unseen and future events. God let the prophets see the unseen and see the future. Sometimes the prophets are called “seers” because God allowed them to see what is hidden and what is going to happen in the future. God knows it all, even the secret thoughts and intents of every person who ever lived.

3. God is omnipotent. God is all-powerful. God spoke and creation came into being, both the material universe and the spirit universe. God continually maintains the material and spirit worlds. His care for creation and its creatures is known as “divine providence”.

Sometimes God intervenes. God does this in three ways: spectacularly, as when He performs a miracle. But more often, God gets involved quietly, as when He controls a situation through means that appear to be completely within the laws of nature. The third way God intervenes is to save us from the penalty of our sins.

Because God intervenes we pray. And when we receive what we prayed for, in what looks like the normal course of events, we rightfully conclude, “God gave me what I asked for in response to my prayer.” The unbeliever might say you received what you prayed for because of coincidence, or for some other reason unknown to you.

Omnipotence means there is nothing God cannot do. A skeptic once asked if God could create a stone that weighed so much He could not lift it. That question is against reason. A circle is not square, a person cannot exist and exist at the same time, the past cannot be erased, etc. God can do with power anything that power can do. He is omnipotent. He has power the mind of man cannot even conceive.

4. God is omnipresent. God is everywhere at all times. Jesus told His disciples that it was practical for Him to go away so the Father could send the Holy Spirit. The reason the departure of Jesus was practical is this: While Jesus was in the flesh He was limited to being at one place at a time. But God, by His Spirit, is everywhere at all times.

Both the physical realm and the spiritual realm limit a material or spiritual being’s presence to one place at a time. But God is the divine being and is not confined to the physical and spiritual realms. The divine sphere does not limit its inhabitant by time and space, as do the physical and spiritual. And because God is divine, He can not only see the scope of history from beginning to end, He can be in all places and all times.

Omnipresence has a special significance for believers. When believers meet together in the name of Christ, God is with them (Matthew 18:20). And when believers depart from each other, God goes with each person wherever he is. This is called the “indwelling of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 8:9-11) in the life of each believer (more later!).

5. God is three in one, commonly referred to as the Trinity.  God is Father, God is Son, and God is Holy Spirit. My understanding of this proceeds from the belief in the supernatural and then to what God said when He to created Adam: “Let us make man in our own image” (Genesis 1:26).

First, a belief in the supernatural is necessary because this allows us to believe that God can be anything or anyone at any time and at the same time. There is no explanation of the supernatural. One either believes in the supernatural or one doesn’t.

Adam was created in the image of God. This does not mean if we could get a look at God He would physically look like Adam. God is divine being and Adam was a physical person.

Adam could speak words just as God spoke words. And God breathed into Adam a spirit that gave him life. God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). It is interesting that in the Bible “breath” is the very same word often translated “spirit”. The translation (“breath” or “spirit”, and sometimes “wind”) depends on the context in which the word is used

Before creation God was one being who contained both His word and Spirit, just as you and I do. In the Old Testament God showed Himself to humanity in various ways. He was the fire in the burning bush Moses saw. God was the pillar of fire and the cloud that led the Israelites from Egypt. He was the priest Melchizedek who received Abraham’s tithes. And God was the “Spirit” who filled the prophets and other men and women who had special work to accomplish.

The apostle John wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” (John 1:1-3)

When God created the heavens and the earth, He spoke words and things in both the physical universe and in the spirit world came into existence. (Paul called these things in the material and spirit worlds the “seen” and the “unseen”.) “Through him (the Word – Jesus) all things were made.” “He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation. For by him (Jesus) all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things we created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:16-17) (Words in parentheses not in the Biblical text)

Before His birth, Jesus the Son of God was the Word of God. The Word of God (“Logos” theologically) became the Son of God. Miraculous! This miracle would be like the words on this page becoming an actual living breathing human being. I cannot make that happen, but God did when Jesus was born of the virgin Mary.

For me, this solves the mystery of Jesus praying to, or communicating with, His Father. Before His birth Jesus was the Word of God and was as much a part of God and as subject to God as our words are a part of us. And even more, the Word of God was subject to God just as our word is subject to us.

John wrote, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

“Trinity” is not a word that is in the Bible. However, the idea of Trinity is. “There is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.” (I Corinthians 8:6)

God is eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and is Trinity.