What is God like?

This is obviously the next question to be faced. To acknowledge that God exists is one thing, and to acknowledge him in the general sense that God speaks to us in creation and through the pages of the Bible is another. But we need to know more. What is God actually like?

The Bible gives us many clear and positive answers to this tremendously important question. Here are some of them.

God is personal.

God is not a ‘thing’, power or influence. He thinks, feels, desires and acts in ways that show him to be a living personal Being. But he is not just ‘the man upstairs’ or some kind of ‘superman’. The Lord is the true God; he is the living God, and the everlasting King.

God is one.

There is only one true God. He says, I am the first, and I am the last; besides me there is no God. Yet God has revealed himself as a ‘trinity’ of three Persons — the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit, each of whom is truly, fully and equally God. The Bible speaks of the glory of God the Father; it says that the Word [Jesus Christ] was God; and it speaks of the Spirit of the Lord. While there is only one God, there are three Persons in the Godhead.

God is spirit.

He has no physical dimensions. He does not have a body, nor does he have any characteristics that can be defined in terms of size and shape. God is Spirit: and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. This means that God is invisible. No man has seen God. It also means that he is not confined to one place at a time, but is everywhere all the time: Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. Quite apart from anything else, this means that God is fully aware of everything that happens everywhere. This includes not only everything you do and say, but every thought that passes through your mind.

God is eternal.

God has no beginning. In the Bible’s words, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. There never was a time when God did not exist and there never will be a time when he will not exist. God describes himself as the one who is and who was and who is to come. And he remains eternally the same: For I the Lord  do not change. All that God ever was he still is and always will be.

God is independent.

Every other living being is dependent on people or things, and ultimately on God — but God is totally independent of his creation. He can survive on his own. He is not worshipped with human hands, as though he needed any thing, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

God is holy.

Majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds. There can be no comparison with the holiness of God. There is none holy like the Lord who is utterly without fault or defect. The Bible says of him, You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong.  And this holy God demands holiness from every one of us. His command to us today is: You shall be holy, for I am holy.

God is just.

The Bible says that the Lord is a God of justice: and that righteousness and judgement are the foundation of his throne. God is not only our Creator and Sustainer; he is also our Judge, rewarding and punishing, in time and eternity, with a justice that is perfect and beyond any appeal or dispute.

God is perfect.

His knowledge is perfect. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. God knows everything in the past, present and future, including all our thoughts, words and deeds. His wisdom is perfect and utterly beyond our understanding. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

God is sovereign.

He is the sole and supreme ruler of the universe, and nothing whatever is outside of his control. Whatever the LORD pleases he does, In heaven and on earth. With God there are no accidents or surprises. He writes all the world’s history and works all things according to the counsel of His will. God needs no advice or consent for anything he chooses to do. Nor can anyone prevent him doing what he pleases: none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

God is omnipotent.

He is all-powerful. In his own words, Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is any thing too hard for me? This does not mean that God can do anything (he cannot lie, or change, or make mistakes, or sin, or deny himself) but that he can do anything he wishes consistent with his character.

These are just brief sketches of some of the things God has revealed in the Bible about his own nature and character. There are other truths about God in the Bible (and we will look at one of these on page 21) though there are many things about him we cannot possibly understand. [He] does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number.  In that sense, we cannot find him and no amount of human intelligence or reasoning can change that. This should hardly surprise us. If we could understand God he would be unworthy of our worship.

Jeremiah 10:10, Isaiah 44:6, Philippians 2:11, John 1:1, 2 Corinthians 3:18, John 4:24, John 1:18, Jeremiah 23:24, Psalm 90:2, Revelation 1:8, Malachi 3:6, Acts 17:25, Exodus 15:11, 1 Samuel 2:2, Habakkuk 1:13, 1 Peter 1:16, Isaiah 30:18, Psalm 97:2, Hebrews 4:13, Romans 11:33, Psalm 135:6, Ephesians 1:11, Daniel 4:35, Jeremiah 32:27, Job 5:9, Job 37:23