Introduction: The topic of God appears simple since we often talk about Him, pray to Him and sing songs of praise to Him and about Him as well as write about Him. However, it is difficult to fully explain since we have different schools of thoughts. Thinking correctly about God is very important because false thought brings forth false idea and false idea about God isidolatry. Many religions describe a being known as God differently. I shall for this purpose, restrain myself to the content of the Bible. If I may ask: Is God a mere metaphysical concept? Or is He part of everyday world? Why should we talk, sing songs to and pray to a being we neither can see nor can touch? Why do we dare believe that there is a being called God? Even the atheists do not believe in God and the bible call those fools (Psalm 14:1). The bible seems to assume the existence of God from the beginning (Genesis 1:1). It went ahead to reveal the nature, character and work of God. No matter where you live, all people believe in some kind of God. Even those who have never heard about God yet they believe that Someone or Something bigger than them is at work in the whole of creation and created everything. That Someone or Something helps people to live together, to survive year in year out, have hope and look forward to each emerging new day.
Definition: The English word God comes from the Hebrew Elohim (Strong Concordance). It is a noun denoting plural (the word represents more than one). Thesaurus Dictionary defines bible God as the Supreme Being, the Creator and the Ruler of the universe of all that is; the self-existent One who is perfect in power, goodness and wisdom. Another defines God as the Spirit hovering over the waters of the primordial Earth – Creator of the universe (matter, energy, space and time), along with other principalities and beings whose primary existence is outside this universe. In Christianity and other monotheistic religions, God is defined as the creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority; the Supreme Being.God is defined as a personal, all powerful, all-knowing, eternal, loving, spirit-composed family who created everything that exists. “Our Creator’s invisible power and Godhead are so clearly shown in the works he has made, that even idolaters and wicked Gentiles are left without excuse” – Matthew Henry (Rom 1:20). God made everyone and everything, including each and every one of us.
Nature: God is the personal Being who walked and talked with Adam and Eve, the first human beings, in the Garden of Eden. God is also the Savior of mankind, who came to the earth in the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth to redeem and save the world (John 3:16) from sin and death and restore us back to Himself. God is Spirit by nature intangible (John 4:24). God is one but He exists as three persons, God, the Father, God, the son and God, the Holy Spirit (Matt 3:16-17); called the triune (three-in-one)God. God is infinite (1 Tim 1:17), incomparable (2 Sam 7:22), faithful and dependable (Psalm 89:1; 119:90) and unchanging (Malachi 3:6). God exists everywhere (Psalm 139:7-12), knows everything (Psalm 147:5; Isaiah 40:26) and has all the power and authority (Eph 1; Rev 19:6). God is the self-existent one, is not being created and existed forever; is the cause of all things, including the dimension of time. God is not subject to the physical creation but is spiritual in nature, residing in the Spiritual realms of heaven. He has absolute power over physical creation such that He can manipulate matter, energy, space and time at will. God is powerful (omnipotent), able to accomplish any possible task He wills to do, All-knowing (Omniscient), have knowledge of all things and All present (omnipresent), able to be present at all places at all times.
Character: The bible reveals some of God’s characteristics: God is love (1 John 4:16; Eph 2:4-5), made Him to create mankind in His image in order to relate and share His love with us. He wants us to love Him and love other people (Matt 22:37-40). God’s a Spirit (John 4:24) without physical form and is able to take any form in order to interact with human beings on earth. Example: God appeared to Moses at the burning bush and spoke with Him. Moses asked His name and He replied “I am that I am” meaning His self-existence, eternal and unchangeable. He’s the Divine consciousness that gives life to the universe. God is just (Acts 17:31); truthful (John 14:6) and holy (1 John 1:5); absolutely holy – without any moral or character defect. Infact, God is incapable of doing any evil. He’s eternally compassionate and forgiving (2 Cor 1:3; Psalm 130:4) and wishes to bestow as much love on us as we are willing to receive. He shows mercy (Rom 9:15), and grace (Rom 5:17) and judges sin (Psalm 5:5). God is both transcendent and immanent; He’s unchangeable and His moral character does not evolve with the times, but remains constant.
His Work: God is one but known by different names referring to the works He does. He expressed His identity to Moses by presenting Himself as “I am.” He has a divine design in all that He creates. What God does flows from who He is? God creates the world and the order in the world, thus morning always follow night (Gen 1:1; Isaiah 43:5). God created all kinds of things. No human beings can know or named all His creation – kinds of plants, creatures in the ocean; birds in the air, even the stars in the heavenly. Only God knows each and everyone and everything because He created them. God likes the beauty of variety and color. God actively sustains the world (Col 1:17). He had a plan for His creation and executes His eternal plan (Eph 1:11). Everything He does is in service of this goal (whether we understand it or not) which includes the redemption of man from the curse of sin and death (Gal 3:13-14).He draws people to Christ (John 6:44) and allows the opportunity to exercise self will by leaving us our freedom to make decision that will either lead us closer to or further away from His love. God disciplines His children (Heb 12:6) and will judge the world (Rev 20:11-15).
In conclusion: God desires that we have a relationship with Him. He wants as many people as possible to choose to love Him and spend eternity with Him. God’s standard for behavior is perfection in thought and deed and no human being can meet His standard. He had to provide another means by which to bring mankind to attain perfection. In the person of His son, God became incarnate (John 1:14) took on the form of human being and lived on the earth (Phil 2:5-8). He taught God’s way and provided the ultimate sacrifice for sin by living a sinless life (Heb 4:15), died on a cross (Col 1:19-20) and risen from dead (Rom 6:9-10). Through this process, He became the “bridge” between God and man (John 14:6; 1 Tim 2:5). It is only through belief in Jesus and His sacrifice for sin that we can have forgiveness of sins (Eph 1:7); being reconciled with God (John 15:15; Rom 5:10) and have eternal salvation (2 Tim 2:10). In Jesus Christ, “All the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form (Col 2:9). God cares about us and in the name of His son, Jesus hears our prayers and in Him we live, more and have our being (Acts 17:28) and can live good lives fill with thankfulness to Him. He sends us His spirit, who fills us with God’s presence with every breath, so that God can live in our hearts. God created the angels and human beings who can relate with Him. Since God is love, He wants us to love Him and love other people (Matt 22:37-40). This is an ultimate desire!!!
Reach: Evangelist/Elder Ogbonnaya, Godswill at: Email: weefreeministries@yahoo.com; Web: weefreeministries.org OR P. O. Box 720035, Houston , Texas , 77272 . Phone: 832.881.3929©.