I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the existence, location, nature, character, and point of God. The student ministry I lead is about to begin a series of messages called “Who Is God?” I hope that this question opens a dialogue that brings anyone involved into a deeper thinking about God; whether He even exists, what He is like, what He is doing, and why any of it matters.

And since my blog is a place where I sense a relative freedom of thought, and a place where I usually feel unfettered from the expectations of others, I decided to use this space as a virtual whiteboard of thought. So, buckle up for free-flowing craziness to ensue.

First of all, after stating the purpose of this series of messages I need to spell out what I am convicted must be conveyed. I have whittled it down to 4 main points, each with its own set of subpoints. I’ll try and get through as much as I can here because quite frankly, I’m sitting typing on a couch and I can literally feel my forearms screaming for more support.

The first thing that must be established is that God is knowable. Not entirely of course, but the fact remains that we can know God. He has revealed Himself far too clearly for that not to be true. (Romans 1:20) The knowledge that one can know God is intrinsically hopeful, I feel. But only if we are in a right understanding of who this God is. And that must be clearly defined; not from opinion, but from Scripture. What does Scripture say about God? Essentially, what does God say about God?

We must establish that God is eternal. That one fact is the foundation of all else that God is. Unless God is eternal, He can not truly maintain all of His other attributes. The problem is that eternality is one of the most comfounding concepts for the human mind to comprehend. The word “forever” rolls off our tongue, fills up love song lyrics, and fits nicely into our vocabulary, but eternity as a reality is one that eludes us. The simple reason for that is that everything we do, everything we see, everything we experience is all within the boundaries of time. There’s a watch on your wrist, a calendar on the wall, a day that begins and ends, a lifespan of weeks, months, and years. We are completely restricted by time and space. Therefore, we cannot truly fathom the scope of eternity. We can come close, but even our best efforts leave the most studied mind stretched and worn. In a word, God is “timeless.” He exists in the perpetual present. He said to Moses when Moses asked God’s identity: “I AM.”

In addition to being eternal, God is holy. The holiness of God can never and must never be overstated. God’s holiness is central to His character. His judgements, His actions, His decisions, His blessings, His will, and all He is and does flows from His holiness. Consider this: In the realm of eternity right now, there are heavenly creatures encircling the throne of God and we are told that they never stop saying, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.” It is notable that they do not say, “Lovely, Lovely, Lovely”, “Good, Good, Good”, “Mighty, Mighty, Mighty”, or “Merciful, Merciful, Merciful”. While all those are also true of God, it is His holiness that is extolled for eternity. His holiness is literally the anthem of eternity.

We must quickly follow up “holy” with “all-powerful”. Psalm 33 tells us that God breathes out the stars of heaven. Have you looked up recently? And that’s just the stars you can see, not all the stars that exist. And if you think our sun is the biggest star there is, think again. I dare you to research some of the biggest stars in our galaxy. Then consider the fact that God breathed those out; simply spoken from His mouth. God is powerful. All power begins with Him and all power returns to Him. Despite the ego of the human race, it is a laughable thought to think that you and I come anywhere near the power of God.

Next, we need to understand that God is loving. Not merely loving, but the Bible says that God IS love. The love of God is so powerful that He allowed you and I to choose Him or reject Him. Think of it: if God had not given us a choice, then we would not be capable of love at all. By definition, love chooses. Love is not merely an emotion, but rather a decision and a commitment. And it is the love of God that drives His decisions toward His creation. The clearest message by far that God is loving is found in the gift of Jesus Christ. For a sinful, dying world that was rejecting Him, God sent Jesus to be born, to live sinlessly, and to die in our place. I find my mind locking up even now to even begin to think about how I can convey with a keyboard the depth of that kind of love. It simply isn’t possible. God’s love is revealed through the greatest offer possible: eternity with Him.

*I returned to this blog and complete it weeks later; in fact after the series “Who is God?”  It was a powerful time together in the Word, and not only were the above qualities covered, but more than that.  We wrapped up the series with “God is: Gracious”.  Awesome series.  Each message was recorded, so if you’d like a copy just contact me.