The Bible, God’s Word, tells us what God is and is not.
- Without biblical authority, any interpretation of God’s attributes, especially understanding God, is nothing more than conjecture, which is false in itself, especially understanding God (Job 42:7).
- It is important for us to try to understand what God is like and to have a broad understanding. Failure to do this causes us to set up, follow, and worship false gods contrary to God’s will (Exodus 20:3-5).
Only what God chooses to reveal about Himself can be known. One attribute or quality of God is “light,” which means that He reveals Himself (Isaiah 60:19; James 1:17), the truth that God reveals His knowledge is not to be overlooked (Hebrews 4:1). .Creation, the Bible, and the Word (Jesus Christ) who became flesh help us to know what God is like.Let’s start with the understanding that God is our Creator and we are part of His creation (Genesis 1:1; Psalm 24:1) and we are created in His image. Man is at the top of creation and is given authority over it all (Genesis 1:26-28). Creation is cursed because of the fall, but still reflects God’s work (Genesis 3:17-18; Romans 1:19-20). When we remember the vastness, complexity, beauty, and order of creation, we realize His best work.
Our search for what God is like can be aided by reading some of God’s names:
Elohim – the only great, divine (Genesis 1:1)
Adonai – Lord, indicating the master-to-servant relationship (Exodus 4:10,13)
El Eloi – the most high , the Almighty (Genesis 14:20)
El Roi – The Mighty One Who Sees (Genesis 16:13)
El Shaddai – Almighty God (Genesis 17:1)
El Olam – God of Eternity (Isaiah 40:28)
Jehovah – Lord “I Am”, meaning the Self-Existing God of the End (Exodus 3:13,14).God is eternal, meaning that He was eternal and His existence will never end. He is immortal, infinite (Deuteronomy 33:27; Psalm 90:2; 1 Timothy 1:17). God is immutable, meaning He never changes; It means that God is trustworthy and faithful (Malachi 3:6; Numbers 23:19; Psalm 102:26, 27). God is incomparable; There is none like him in deeds or existence.
He is incomparable and perfect (2 Samuel 7:22; Psalm 86:8; Isaiah 40:25; Matthew 5:48). God is unfathomable, unfathomable, unfathomable, difficult to find fully (Isaiah 40:28; Psalm 145:3; Romans 11:33,34).God is just, he shows no partiality between persons (Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 18:30). God is all-powerful; He is all-powerful and can do anything that pleases Him, but His works are always consistent with the consistency of His character (Revelation 19:6; Jeremiah 32:17,27). God is omnipresent, meaning that He is everywhere, not that God is everything (Psalm 139:7-13; Jeremiah 23:23). God is omniscient, meaning He knows the past, present and future, even what we are thinking at any given moment, because He knows everything. His judgment will always be fair (Psalm 139:1-5; Proverbs 5:21).
God is one; Not only that, there is nothing else here, but He is the only one who is able to understand our deepest desires and heart’s desires. He alone is worthy of our worship and worship (Deuteronomy 6:4). He is righteous, which means God never overlooks a bad deed. Because of His righteousness and justice, for our sins to be forgiven, Jesus had to experience God’s judgment where our sins were imputed to Him (Exodus 9:27; Matthew 27:45-46; Romans 3:21-26).
God is sovereign, meaning He is supreme. All creation combined cannot fail His purposes (Psalm 83:1; 95:5; Jeremiah 23:20). God is Spirit, meaning He is invisible (John 1:18; 4:24). God is triune, he is three in one, equal in being, equal in power and glory. God is true, He remains incorruptible and He will not lie (Psalm 117:2; 1 Samuel 15:29).
God is holy, He is separated from all moral impurity and is against it. God sees all evil and it angers him. God is mentioned as fire. (Isaiah 6:3; Habakkuk 1:13; Exodus 3:2;4,5; Hebrews 12:29). God is gracious, His grace includes His goodness, mercy, grace and love. If it had not been by God’s grace, His holiness would have separated us from His presence. Thankfully, it did not, because He desires to know each of us personally (Exodus 34:6; Psalm 31:19; 1 Peter 1:3; John 3:16; 17:3).
Because God is an eternal being, no man can answer this descriptive question of God, but through the Word of God, we can know who God is and what He is like. My prayer is that we may seek Him with all our hearts (Jeremiah 29:13).