God Is…

After spending the last few weeks discussing the “warning” passages in the book of Hebrews, I want to take a moment to discuss who God is. Throughout our series in Hebrews, we have seen how God will chastise those who drift from Him and we tend to focus on the God of wrath. However, there is so much more to our God than this. For example, in the New Testament there are four “God is” statements all describing different characteristics of God.

The first of these statements is found in John 4:24.

“24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

First we see that God is spirit, but what exactly does this mean? Well a basic reading of this verse would show that God is not material. Some might wonder what was Jesus than? He is still one hundred percent God, but took on flesh. John 1:14 clearly shows us that Jesus was eternal and God prior to His humble arrival. Nevertheless, God does not possess a physical body in all aspects of the Trinity, but has through the Son of Man added to what is already limitless. If this is hard to understand that is ok, this is some serious theological concepts we are talking about. Remember man-made religions will attempt to add to God what is not His characteristics, only God can add to Himself which He did through the Son of God, Jesus Christ. 

With this in mind, we can see two things. First, God is not confined to the physical limitations that we humans possess, He operates outside of time. Second, since God does not have a physical form, man should not make forms that are in His image. The meaning of this second statement is that we need to avoid associating God with any religious building or assigning any limitations to a limitless God. There are many places that a person can go to learn about God, “The heavens tell of the glory of God; And their expanse declares the work of His hands.” Psalm 19:1 and there are many churches where God is absent from. People tend to think that God needs something from us, this could not be farther from the truth and to assume that God is assigned only to a building simply shows a lack of understanding of who He is. “24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.” Acts 17:24-25.

The second “God is” statement is found in 1 John 1:5.

“5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”

If you have read the book of 1 John, you will see that it is a corrective book. It encourages the reader to remain in righteousness and not in darkness or sin. The reason for this is that God is both perfect and sinless and we are called to be like Him. “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5:1-2. Because God is wholly perfect He cannot abide or take pleasure in sin. He dwells in light that the world cannot understand because we are surrounded by darkness, by sin. Although the world did not know Him, God still sent His Son to teach the world about Him. ”1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind. 5 And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it. 6 A man came, one sent from God, and his name was John. 7He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. 9 This was the true Light that, coming into the world, enlightens every person. 10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and yet the world did not know Him.” John 1:1-10

The third “God Is” statement is again in 1 John,

”16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” 1 John 4:16

Love is the very characteristic of God, and so He is the standard of what love actually is. “4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. This passage gives us an example of what love should be, and God shows His love for us though this. God is patient in that He wants no man to come to be separated from Him, “3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.” 1 Timothy 2:3-6 

I do believe this is the one characteristic of God that is most commonly misused or misunderstood. A lot of people, secular and Christians alike, will use this characteristic to state that because God is love, He will accept them no matter what. What this idea is actually doing, is giving the idea that a person can continue in sin. When we look at what love is through 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, we see that love does not rejoice in wrongdoing. The fact that God does not want us to keep sinning, to remain in darkness, shows that He loves us. He is not the killjoy that many people believe but instead He wishes to save us from the consequences of sin. And from the second “God is” statement, we know that because God is light He cannot tolerate sin.

Love also endures all things, this cannot be clearer that what Jesus did on the cross. He bore the wrath of God for our sins, He endured all things. By His death, Jesus completed the costly payment for the consequence of sin so that God can freely manifest His love to those who believe in Him.

The final “God is” statement is in Hebrews 12:29.

“29 for our God is a consuming fire.”

Throughout our study on the “warning” passages of Hebrews we saw that God will correct us when we stray from His Word. More specifically when we looked at the final “warning” found in Hebrews 12:25-29 we saw that God will use difficult times to shake what can be shaken from what cannot be.  We have already seen that God cannot abide in sin, and so what can be shaken are things that do not belong to Him in the light. These things ultimately will be consumed because they did not believe in God’s love.

I hope you enjoyed this post and now have a better understanding of who God is. While these statements, merely touched upon the characteristics of God, I hope you can now explain more of who He is.

Seek the truth and encourage one another,

Alex