Who is God? Proverbs 22:17-21. Message #2 – Bible study
Who is God?
The Nature of God.
Proverbs 22:17-21
by Cooper Abrams
Introduction:
Man responds to truth in various ways. To illustratethe point suppose that their were three men traveling through a Westerndesert became lost. In several days they used up their water andfood. Their horses soon died the men sat down too exhausted to go on and having lost all hope of being rescued. Suddenly outof nowhere appeared an Indian and stood looking at them. The Indian gaveeach man a drink of water and little food then drew a map and pointed themin the direction of a town he said was about a 1/2 days walk towards thewest.
One of the men gratefully thanked the Indian who then went onhis way leaving the men to follow his instructions. The grateful man having regained some strength stood up and beckoning tothe two other men said, “lets get going. We can be in safety in just a fewhours. However, one of the men, said he wasnot going and explained although he did not personally know anything aboutIndians he did not trust them because he had heard a lot of bad thingsabout them. He said I am going north because I feel that isthe where help will be. The other man toosaid he could not believe that there was a town only a half a day westand said he was going south because he reasoned that was the best way togo.
The first man said “Fellows, this man was an Indian who livedall his life here and knows the area. He gave us water andfood and has showed us the way why will you not believe?” Both men gave various reasons which all boiled down to feeling the Indianwas wrong, not trusting him, or reasoning that there was a better to go.
The three men each went in the direct they chose. That eveningthe first man found the town was saved. Search parties a fewdays later found the other two men dead.
Each man responded to the truth in a different way. The third man refused to believe the truth and rather turned to his ownreasoning ability and feelings. He refused to believe the truth andit killed him. The second man also trusted in his feelingsand because of prejudice he too would not believe the truth and he toodied. The first man believed the truth thus trusting the goodintentions and experience of the Indian. All three knew thetruth, yet it only saved the first man because he believed it.
God has revealed to us the truth in His word the Bible. It is truth and points the way to salvation and eternal life, yet it mustbe believed. We can trust it because of who God is. God’s character, His person and His attributes assure us that He is truth.
Last week we saw that the Bible tells us that God is the Creatorof the Universe and in particular you and I. Let’s usfurther today look at Who God is.
I. The Bible tells us that the God of the Bible is the only God thatexists.
A. The Bible saysGod is the Only God. Note, what the Bible says about God in the followingScriptures:
1. Deut. 4:35, “Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that theLORD (Jehovah) he is God (Elohim); there is none else beside him.” (Lord=Jehovah and God=Elohim which refers to the redemptive work of Godin Salvation)
2. Isaiah 44:6, “Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel , and his redeemerthe LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me thereis no God.”
3. Isaiah 43:10, “Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whomI have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I amhe: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.”
B. These verses teach that God is the onlyGod and not other gods exist in the Universe that He created. The Bible clearly reveals that there in only one God and He is the Creatorof the Earth and the Universe.
II. The Bible tells us that God is Infinite.
A. The Bible says God is infinite. Thisrefers to God in relation to space. God created the vastnessof the space of the Universe and thus God must be greater that His Creation.Being infinite God is not limited to space in a material Universe. The word “infinite” means without end or limitation.
1. His name,”EVERLASTING GOD” (El Olam) Gen. 21:33. The Hebrew “Olam” isused in Scripture: an indefinite time or age (Lev. 25:32; Joshua. 24:2).Hence the word is used to express the eternal duration of the being ofGod (Psa. 90:2), and is the Hebrew synonym of the Greek aion, age or dispensation”(Scofield).
2. “Before themountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and theworld, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” (Psa.90″2)
B. Note how the followingpassages present this truth:
1. 1 Kings 8:27,”But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heavenof heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?”
2. 2 Chron.2:6, “But who is able to build him an house, seeing the heaven and heavenof heavens cannot contain him? who am I then, that I should build him anhouse, save only to burn sacrifice before him?”
3. Jeremiah23:24, “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.”
4. Isaiah 66:1,”Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool:where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of myrest?”
III. The God of the Bible had no Beginning and is Eternal.
The Bible says God is eternal. Genesis 21:33,says He is the “Eternal God.” This means that God is not subject to timeas are material men in a physical world. God created time when He madethe heavens and the Earth (Gen. 1:1-2, Heb. 1:2, 11:3). Psalm 102:27, says”thou art the same, and thy years have no end” (see Heb. 13:18, James 1:17).God created time and space and exists beyond them, and He is not subjectto either.
IV. The God of the Bible is the Self-Existing God.
A. The Bible says that God is self-existent.Man’s existence comes from God who is life and the giver of all life. Manexists because of God’s power. God “breathed” life into man and hebecame a living soul. God’s existence is not dependent on outside forces.This is the meaning of God’s statement about Himself in Exodus 3:14, “Iam that I am.”
God’s name Jehovahmeans “self-existent one.” The name Jehovah is made of two Hebrewswords Yehwe and Havah. It has the meaning of the “self-existent one whoreveals Himself.”
ALMIGHTYGOD (El Shaddai) Gen.. 17:1-8; 28:2,3). The all-sufficient God. “God (El)signifies the `Strong One’ (Gen.. 1:1)
B.. God was not created, but “the” Creatorand is the eternal God. “From everlasting to everlastingthou art God” (Psalm 90:2). He is self-existent and does not exist becauseof some outside power. He is a power unto Himself. This is better understoodby the next statement about God.
V. The God of the Bible is Invisible.
A. The Bible says that God is invisible.
1. Deut. 4:1-19,says that at Horeb God appeared to Israel. God reminds them that they didnot see any form of God, but only heard His voice. God commands them notto corrupt themselves by making any image of Him referring to Him as eithermale of female, or after the likeness of any animal or after the sun, moonand stars.
2. Isaiah 40:18states the same truth, “To whom then will ye liken God? or what likenesswill ye compare unto him?” God does not have gender asmaterial men and women do. God not being like men cannot becompared to men.
3. John 1:18,says that “No man hath seen God” In Romans 1:20, Col.1;15, 1 Tim. 1:17, Paul refers to God as being invisible.
4. 1 Timothy6:16, says, “Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which noman can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honorand power everlasting. Amen.” Thus the Bible is clear in teaching thatGod being a spirit is invisible and cannot be seen my material men.
B. The Bible does say however in some passagesthat men did see God.
1. Isthis a contradiction? The answer is no. God appeared to men in physicalform so that men could see him, but they did not see God in his true essence,but saw only a reflection or manifestation of God. John 1:32, says thatSpirit can be manifested in visible form. In Genesis 16:7-14, the Biblesays the angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar. This is referred to as a”theophany” which means an appearance of God in human form.
2. Exodus 3:1fsays that the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire outof the midst of a bush (Ex. 3:2). Thus, the Moses the flame in the midstof the bush revealed God’s presence, but not His true essence. The flameMoses saw did not represent what God looks like anymore that when God appearedas a man. God used these forms so as to appear to men in some visible formthey could see.
VI. God tell us He is Unchanging.
A. In Malachi 3:6,God told said to Israel, “For I am the LORD, I change not neither are ye sons of Jacob consumed.” Inother words because God does not change His promises are eternal. Living in Utah among the Mormons the we very familiar with a religion whosegod is always changing and giving new revelation.
B. James speaking of the comfort and knowingthat God is immutable says, “Every good gift and every perfect giftis from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom isno variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (James 1:17)
VII. The Bible tells us that God is Omniscient, Omnipotentand Omnipresence.
A. God is omniscient meaning all knowing.
1. Job 34:21, “For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings.”
2. Psa. 147:5, “Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.”{his…: Heb. of his understanding there is no number}
3. Heb.4:13, “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in hissight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whomwe have to do.”
4. 1 John 3:20, “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than ourheart, and knoweth all things.”
B. God is Omnipotent meaning allpowerful.
1. Job declaredin Job 42:2, “I know that thou canst do every thing, and thatno thought can be withholden from thee. {no thought can be…: or, no thoughtof thine can be hindered}
2. Psa.115:3, “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoeverhe hath pleased.”
3. Matt19:26, “But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With menthis is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”
4. Rev. 19:6 proclaims that at the Second Coming the Lord Jesus who is Godwill reign. “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude,and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings,saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”
C. God is Omnipresence meaningin all places at once.
1. Psa. 139:8, “If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell,behold, thou art there.”
2. Prov.15:3, “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the eviland the good.”
3. Isa.66:1, “Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and theearth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and whereis the place of my rest?”
4. Jer23:24, “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not seehim? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.”
5. Acts 17:27, “That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, andfind him, though he be not far from every one of us”
CONCLUSION:
1. This messageclearly teaches us who God is and that we are responsible to Him. He is our Creator and our wondrous and Almighty God. His natureand attributes tell us of His greatness and compels us to believe and putour trust in Him.
The last versewe read in Acts 17:27, tells us something that is beyond our understanding. “That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, andfind him, though he be not far from every one of us”
The MarvelousGod who made, who is greater than our ability to imagine….is always there…seekingus…never far from us….only a prayer away.
At the Jesus’sTransfiguration God spoke from heaven and said, Matt 17:5 “While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and beholda voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom Iam well pleased; hear ye him.”
2. Jer. 15:16 “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me thejoy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD Godof hosts.
3. Paulsaid, Roman 1:16 “¶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ:for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth;to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
4. God has told usin His word, He has reveal to us His plan of Salvation and that issimply to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Acts4:12 “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is noneother name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
“Neither is there salvationin any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men,whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
“For God so lovedthe world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believethin him should not perish, but have everlasting life . . . He thatbelieveth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not theSon shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him”
(John 3:16, 36)
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