Who is Jehovah, Part 1
As we continue with our First Series on the Foundations of our Christian Faith, we need to look at the character and the nature of Jehovah, God of Creation. Next, we’ll reflect on God’s eternal purposes and our relationship with Him as this Creator and Future Ruler. Our Creator planned for a personal relationship with His creation – with you!
So let’s continue in our study of Jehovah, Creator and Father of all.
1. God is One, in Unity with Himself. His plans and purposes for us and for mankind are not divided, compromised or incomplete, Deut. 6:4, 1 Corinthians 8:6. God is in total unity in the trinity; and in the principles He used to create the universe and all life. He is not pernicious.
2. God is without beginning or end. Free from, and outside the succession of time, eternal and infinite, Gen. 21:33, 1 Kings, 8:27, Psalm. 90:2, 145:3, Acts 17:24. God is unchangeable (immutable) and unchanging, Psalms 102:27, James 1:17. 7.
3. God is present everywhere (omnipresent), is all powerful (omnipotent) and knows all actual and possible things, even those things hidden from sight, (omniscient), Psalm. 139:1-4, 7-12, 147:4-5, Jeremiah 23:23-24, Matthew 11:21,19:26 and Revelation 2:11. There never was a time when God did not exist and there never will be a time when He will not exist! All that God ever was, He still is and will always be.
4. God is the supreme Ruler, independent of any authority outside of Himself, (absolute sovereignty), Ephesians Chapter 1, esp. v. 21. He is independent of His creation and His creatures, or of the demonic realm, Psalm. 115:3.
5. God has moral equality, without favouritism, (absolute justice), unbiased by history, creed or nationality, with everyone’s best interest at heart, Acts 10:34-35, Romans 2:11. His very nature is Love, the kind of love that does the best for the other person – even if that is saying “no” or allowing them to ‘hit the brick wall” in order to find Him.
6. God seeks the highest good for all creation and all humans, even at His own cost, (benevolent). He is completely unselfish in His dealings with us, for the welfare of His creation and mankind, Deut. 7:7-8, Ex. 34:6, John 3:16, Eph. 1:5-8, Titus 2:11.
7. God’s goodness and grace are given to His creation, undeserved and without favouritism, Exodus 33:19, 34:6, Psalm. 145:9, Ephesians 1:5-8, Titus 2;11. God’s mercy shows His tender-hearted compassion to all, Exodus 3:7, 17, Psalm 103:13, Matthew 9:36.
8. God is righteous, perfect and separate from sin, pure and honest. His actions are always trustworthy, (truthful), 1 Sam 15:29, Psalm. 19:7-9, Jeremiah 9:24, 10:5-10, John 17:3, 17, 19, Hebrews 6:18, Titus 1:2. God is faithful to keep all the promises He makes, faithful to keep the covenant with Jesus for us. Numbers 23:19, Psalm 89:2, 1 Thes. 5:24.
9. God is a person with relationship goals. He has self-cognisance, will, emotions, intellect and self-determination, (personality), Exodus 3:14, Genesis Chapter 3. God is the ultimate source of all life and is life, Exodus 3:14, Jer.emiah10:10, John 5:26.
10. God is personal. God is not a ‘thing’, a power or an indifferent influence. He thinks,
feels, desires and acts in ways that show Him to be a loving, personal Being. He wants to be intimately involved in our lives. This was the motivating force that started creation, Genesis 1:2, John 4:20-14, 1 Corinthians 2:11, 2 Corinthians 3:17,
11. God’s long-suffering nature shows His patience, waiting for our free will to come into action (persistence), Psalm. 86:15, Romans 2:4, 9:22
12. God is Holy, especially in contrast to the corrupt, defiled, impure and distorted sin nature and the world around us.
13. God is Spirit, John 4:24, without physical size or shape, existing in a spiritual dimension. Paul said “We live and move and have a being in Him”. This is where the finite gets lost in understanding the infinite.
14. God is a Consuming Fire, Hebrews 12:29, the most frequent symbol of God in the Bible. He loves us too much to not expose the hidden idols, traumas and pain in our heart. It isn’t that He ‘consumes us’ into nothingness but pressures us to create diamonds from worthless coal. He implements the refining process – a journey – without violating our free will or damaging our fragile existence.
15. God is physically neither male nor female. However He is both in attributes. He is ‘male’ in His disciplining, directing, teaching role and ‘female’ in His nurturing, caring, and comforting role. He uses Fatherhood to restore a fatherless, broken mankind. This is one reason why we need to understand the Father-Heart of God today.
Since God cannot deny His nature or His character, His dealings with us must be by supreme love. He is unchangeable in His perfect goals for us, completely just, full of grace, mercy and goodness. We can we build our trust on Him! How important it is to build His revelation knowledge of his nature and character into our lives – rather than just head knowledge!
We trust that this post has been a help for you to see the real nature and character of God,
Susanne Fengler, Blog Author
Tags: Nature and character of God, nature of God
Filed under: Foundations of our Faith
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