The Attributes of God.
Part Three.
Bible
Reading: Genesis 1:1.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth.”
3. God is Omnipresent, Ever-present, He
is always Everywhere.
“Where
can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I
ascend to heaven,
You are there; If I make my bed
in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in
the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right
hand will lay hold of me” Psalm 139:7-10.
“Am
I a God at hand,’ declares the Lord, ‘and not a God afar off? Can a man
hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him?’ declares the Lord. ‘Do
I not fill heaven and earth?’ declares the Lord” Jeremiah
23:23-24.
To be omnipresent
is to be in all places, always. Yet, it is important to understand that for God
“to be” in a place is not the same way we are in a place. He exists on a plane
wholly distinguishable (unique, different) from the one readily available to
the five senses. Nevertheless, He is with us, the fullness of His presence is
all around us.
“Where
shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I
ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I
take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even
there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” The psalmist
proclaims God’s omnipresence in Psalm 137.
This ought to
bring deep comfort to Christians who struggle with loneliness and deep sorrow.
In a very real
way, God is always near us, “closer than
our thoughts,” writes Tozer. “The knowledge that we are never alone calms the
troubled sea of our lives and speaks peace to our soul.”
4. God is Infinite, Immeasurable,
endless, unlimited, never-ending, vast, Boundless, etc. He is Self-Existing,
and without Origin.
“He existed before anything else, and
He holds all creation together” Colossians
1:17.
The fact that God
is self-existent, that He was created by nothing and has always existed
forever, is perhaps one of the hardest attributes of God for the believer to
understand. In our limitedness, grasping the nature of our limit-less God is
like holding onto water as it rages down a river.
Again, Tozer says: “To admit that there is One who
lies beyond us, who exists outside of all our categories, who will not be
dismissed with a name, who will not appear before the bar of our reason, nor
submit to our curious inquiries: this requires a great deal of humility, more
than most of us possess, so we save face by thinking God down to our level, or
at least down to where we can manage Him.”
Dr.
Adrian Rogers writes about the self-existence of
God: “The name
Jehovah is used some 6,800 times in the Bible.
It is the personal covenant name of Israel’s God. In the King James Version of
the Bible, it is translated Lord God. Not only does it speak of God’s strength,
but also it speaks of the sovereignty of God and the goodness of God.”
The root of this
name means “self-existing,” one who never came into being, and one who always
will be. When Moses asked God, “Who
shall I tell Pharaoh has sent me?” God said, “I AM THAT I AM.” Jehovah God is the most powerfully sacred name to
Jewish scribes, and many will not even pronounce the name. When possible, they
use another name.
5. God is Immutable, Final, Unchangeable,
He never Changes.
“I am the Lord, and I do not change.
That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed” Malachi 3:6.
God does not
change. His attributes are the same from before the beginning of time into
eternity:
a.
His character never changes, He never gets “better”
or “worse.”
b.
His plans do not change.
c.
His promises do not change.
This ought to be
a source of incredible joy for believers. Sam
Storm says this about God’s unchanging nature: “All this means, very simply, is
that God is dependable! Our trust in Him is therefore a confident trust, for we
know that He will not, indeed cannot, change. His purposes are unfailing, His
promises sound.”
Romans 8:35-39 says
it like this: “Can anything ever separate us from
Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity,
or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with
death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are
being slaughtered like sheep.” No, despite all these things, overwhelming
victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us
from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our
fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can
separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in
all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is
revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
It is because
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever!
6. God is Self-Sufficient, Self-reliant,
Self-supporting, Self-contained, He has no Needs.
“The Father has life in Himself, and He has granted that same life-giving power to
His Son” John 5:26.
As limited
humans, we have unbelievable needs, which left unfulfilled, result in death.
God, however, has never once needed anything. As Tim Temple says,
“God is perfectly complete within His own being.” What does the Bible say?
Genesis 17:1 “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared
to him and said, “I am El-Shaddai— ‘God Almighty.’ Serve me
faithfully and live a blameless life.”
John 5:26 “The Father has
life in Himself, and He has granted
that same life-giving power to His Son.”
Ephesians 3:16 “I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources
He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit.”
Because He
possesses these immeasurable riches in the perfect knowledge and love of the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:
End of part
three, part four to follow.
