What is This Christian God Like?

God has revealed Himself to man and His means of doing this was the Bible. It is there in black and white for us. So what does this Bible tell us that God is like? What is the Christian God like? What is described in the Bible is the Christian God and not some generic Being who is out there. He is not the God of other religions, known in a different way (see Skeptic's Challenge).

People have varying ideas of what God is like. We hear this in such statements as My God would not do... or My God would certainly allow or permit... In such ways, we create our own gods which are like us. That being so, we make God after our image and stand in judgment of Him when He does not act in ways we think He should. However, in such cases, the one who is really God is ourselves. We tell God that when He does the things we want for Him to do, or He acts in a way that is pleasing to us, then we will allow Him to be God in our lives. That is not the Christian God of the Bible.

God's name is "I am that I am" (Jehovah or Yahweh in the Hebrew). He is the Eternal God. He has no beginning and He will have no end. I, the Lord, am the first, and with the last I am he. I am the First and I am the Last, Besides Me there is no God. (Isaiah 41:4; 44:6) In being eternal, God does not change but remains eternally the same: For I am the Lord, I do not change (Malachi 3:6). So His name carries a history, a story, an emotional impact, for He is a covenant keeping God who is faithful.

He is eternal. Does that mean that God is outside of time? If we mean by that, time does not lord it over God, then this is true. God is not a temporal creature in the way we are. Time tyrannizes us. It does not God. Time never goes to fast or slow for God. He is the God of time, However, if we mean by that, the past, present and future are all the same for God in that He lives in some kind of eternal present so that past, present and future are all the same to Him, then that is not true. What that says is that our human experience of past, present and future is an illusion, not genuine reality. If we make time an illusion, then there is no distinction between wrath and grace, incarnation and resurrection, creation and consummation. When people say that God lives in an eternal present, they are undermining the significance of redemptive history. God does not create and judge the world ultimately at the same time. They are not simultaneous.

Is God then a temporal creature? There is something analogous to time in God's experience, but His experience of time is not our experience of time. He is Lord over time, even as he is Lord over all things.

God is a Spirit. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:24) in other words, God does not occupy any particular place in the way that we do. He does not have a body or physical dimensions. To ask How big is God? Is to ask a question that does not make sense. What does make sense is to ask Where is God? He is present equally or fully in all places. He is not confined to one place at one time such as we are. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord (Jeremiah 23:24) What separates us from God is not space or time. To meet God, one does not have to go to a particular place at a special time. As R. C. Sproul writes, To be in the immediate presence of God is to step into another dimension. Moreover, God is sovereignly invisible. No one has seen God at any time. (John 1: 18) Being in all places reminds us that God also knows all things, even the thoughts and intents of our hearts. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account (Hebrews 4:13) Great is our Lord, and mighty in power, His understanding is infinite. (Psalm 147:5)

Does God know the future? If you know something, then what you say about it is true. To know something is to have a justified, true belief. When we say that God knows all things, you must also say that God determines all things. Somehow God remarkably predestines but does not take away our free will in the process. So I go in Monday evening and order my extra cheese pizza because that is exactly what I want, and it is exactly the way God knew it would be. God knows all things and plans all things.

God is personal. He does not define Himself as some impersonal force or energy field, or influence in the world. No, He describes Himself as a living, personal Being. In fact, it is because He is a person with personality that we, who are created in His image, have personality as well. So we find in the Bible that emotion is attributed to God, thinking, decision-making, love, hate, will, and purpose as well.

God is all sufficient. God does not have need of anything or anyone. The Father has life in Himself. (John 5:26) He is totally independent. Everything else in this world is dependent on something, but not God. Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. (Acts 17:25) God did not create the world because He was bored or needed an object of His love. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all its fullness. (Psalm 50:12)

God is all powerful. For with God nothing is impossible. (Luke 1:37) God can do everything that He wishes to do. He can do all His holy will.

God can do anything? Someone is sure to ask: Can God make a rock that is so big that He can't lift it? Very simply, No, He can't. But then God can not do everything. To say that God is all powerful is not to say that He can do everything. That is a positive. God cannot lie, cannot deny Himself, contradict Himself, or cease to exist. So if God made a rock so big that it overpowered Him, He would be denying Himself. He cannot do that. But God can do everything that He wishes to do, i.e. all His holy will.

God is most holy. In saying this, we are speaking of two aspects of God's character. To say that He is holy is to say that He is without sin, wrong, mistake, or error. You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness. (Habakkuk 1: 13) There is a purity about God that is not only majestic and beautiful, but also shows its excellence in His righteous actions. God never makes a mistake.

Holy also speaks of the fact that God is completely other than we. There is a profound difference between God and His created order. This refers to His transcendent majesty and makes Him worthy of all honor, worship and adoration. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory ... Who shall not fear You, 0 Lord and glorify Your name? For you alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, For Your judgments have been manifested. (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 15:4)

God is most just. God has a standard of right and wrong that are a part of His character and expressed in His law. He, therefore, stands as Judge of all the earth. His judgments are known in time, but they will ultimately be set down when all men stand before Him. On that day, every wrong will be righted, and every man will give an account of His life. God's justice is true and perfect, and all will affirm it. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne .... For all His ways are justice ... Righteous and upright is He.

God is most merciful and gracious. One of the things that most people know about God is God is love (1 John 4: 16). The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abounding in goodness and truth. (Exodus 34:6) God's mercy and grace is a holy mercy and grace, a just mercy and grace. Defined simply, mercy is the withholding of a deserved penalty. In other words, God shows His mercy to us when at our first sin, He does not destroy us or place us under His ultimate judgment. God is merciful so that we might come to a place of repentance, acknowledging our need for Him.

Grace is the giving of undeserved favor. God shows His grace to us when He permits us to enjoy a sunset, a fine meal, a new invention, good health. These are gifts from God which call for a response of thanks, appreciation, and worship. Saving grace comes from the hand of God so that we might place our faith and trust in Him alone for our eternal salvation.

God is incomprehensible. God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts, both quantitatively and qualitatively. It is not just that God knows more than we do, but it is entirely different from our knowledge. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:89) Our knowledge of God is thus limited and finite. We can only know God to the degree that He chooses to reveal Himself. The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong, to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29:29)

God is sovereign. Nothing happens that is outside of God's plan, purpose, and control. But our God is in heaven, he does whatever He pleases. There are no surprises to God, no accidents. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations. (Psalm 33:11) He is the sole determiner of all things. Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, 'MY counsel shall stand, And I will do my pleasure. (Isaiah 46:10)

All one can do before such a God is to bow in adoration and submission, asking for His mercy and grace.