Knowing God: 6 - God is Eternal and Self-Existent

This post examines attributes of God that we define as "incommunicable" because they are wholly unlike anything that can be described by finite minds or have analogy in a finite universe.

Why bother studying Theology?     

• The big questions of life have answers!
• We have a purpose
• We are loved
• We know history will end, but 'His Story' will not.

If someone "created" you, wouldn't  you have an obligation to acknowledge them?

What if you were invited to a party and you showed up, ate all the food and enjoyed yourself, but refused to acknowledge the host who invited you?  Awkward!  So we should focus our attention on the host of this party.  In fact, the highest form of inquiry you could imagine is to discover your Creator.

Theology = Seeking to understand God

The highest pursuit of your mind

Most worthy of your time

Will affect your destination in eternity 

Many skeptics say “there is nothing you can know about God”.  If that were true, then you would know that He is unknowable.  So, then you would know something about God.

We also want to get a clear and accurate "picture" or "image" of God, and the study of Theology will help you find the truth.

God is Really Awesome

Probably the best "summary" is this entire series is to understand this:  God is truly awesome.  How awesome?  So awesome that He is God!  That He deserves your worship.  He is "maximally" the best and greatest at everything that is Good, Holy, Righteous, Powerful, Intelligent, Loving, Forgiving... 

This short YouTube video by Dr. William Lane Craig of Reasonable Faith Ministries (www.reasonablefaith.org) puts it nicely:

Why God is Awesome!

In our day we can read a blog or watch a video.  Many years ago a group of extremely knowledgeable theologians wrote it all down in great detail.  Here is an excerpt of that famous document, entitled the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which was an abridged version of the Westminster Larger Catechism.  Note God is described as “a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.”

CHAPTER II
Of God, and of the Holy Trinity

I. There is but one only, living, and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions; immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will, for his own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him; and withal, most just, and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.

II. God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself; and is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which he hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and upon them. He is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things; and hath most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them whatsoever himself pleaseth. In his sight all things are open and manifest, his knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature, so as nothing is to him contingent, or uncertain. He is most holy in all his counsels, in all his works, and in all his commands. To him is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience he is pleased to require of them.

III. In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost: the Father is of none, neither begotten, nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son

God's Incommunicable Attributes                           

Incommunicable = cannot be translated*

(*way different from us)

Infinite in degree or measure

How do you explain "God is Infinite"?

Infinity is defined by what it "isn't" because we lack tools to describe infinities in the positive.  Likewise, "Incommunicable" attributes of God are best understood in how 'unlike' they are to finite things we humans can mentally grasp.

In = "Not".      Inefficient, incompetent, incorruptible.

"not finite"    without boundaries

There are two types of infinity we are concerned with: qualitative and quantitative.  The following are quotes from Dr. William Lane Craig "Defenders" class

Qualitative

“...if we talk about God’s love as “infinite,” what we mean is that it is unconditional, it is boundless; but we don’t mean that it is somehow made up of a collection of parts which are infinite in number. The love of God’s being infinite is not a quantitative notion. Or when we talk about God’s moral perfection and his holiness and we say he is infinitely good or holy, again that is not a quantitative notion. We don’t mean that there are units of holiness, and God has an infinite number of these units. It is more a qualitative infinity. So when we talk about infinity with respect to God, we should use the word as a qualitative notion.” ~Dr. William Lane Craig - Defenders Podcast

Quantitative

"It" is a mathematical construct of a set of discrete things for which there is no upper boundary of their quantity. Examples are the set of natural numbers, the set of real numbers, etc.   In the temporal/physical universe, I've not found an example of either aspect of infinity.

"Potential Infinities" are things that have no upper boundary but are still finite values.    If you lived forever you still were "born" and so the amount of time can be counted.  Something can mathematically approach infinity but no actual physical things are infinite.  God is different.  ~Dr. William Lane Craig - Defenders Podcast

God is Self-Existent

God is not contingent = “not caused”

"Why is there something rather than nothing?  The sufficient reason...is found in a substance which...is a necessary Being bearing the reason for its existence within itself."

God is not contingent on anything else, He is not created, but “is” eternally. God has the power of "Being" in Himself.  Nothing else "needs" to be but God.  God is also the source of all reality outside himself.  Everything besides Himself that exists does so because God wanted it to exist.  Otherwise, nothing would exist.  

                       

John 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, [logic] and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created.  HCSB

A term used to describe this attribute of God is "Divine Aseity".  A good resource to study this is more depth is here:  Reasonable Faith Articles - Divine Aseity   Here is an excerpt of a podcast transcript from Reasonable Faith the helps explain Aseity in more detail. 

“Philosophers draw the distinction between necessary existence and contingent existence. God is a necessary being. His non-existence is impossible; he exists necessarily. By contrast, all other beings are contingent – they are contingent upon God as the independent, self-existent one. So it is not true that if God is a being, he is just one among many. Quite the contrary, God is the source and sustainer of all contingent beings, and he is the only metaphysically necessary being that exists. 

For those who press the question, when you are in conversation with them, “Where did God come from?” I think you can return with the following question: “If there is no God, then where did the universe come from?” On the atheistic view, you have got to believe that the universe is self-existent, unless you think it just popped into being uncaused out of nothing, which seems absurd. That is worse than magic. So on the atheistic view, you have got to believe the universe is a self-existent, necessary being, which is exactly the same thing that we believe about God. In other words, what the atheist is forced to do is simply to substitute the universe in the place of God."  ~Dr. William Lane Craig - Defenders Podcast

God is Eternal

Eternal = Outside time, not "lots of time"

By definition, being self-existent necessarily means being eternal, outside the contingent state of time. The Psalms praise God as everlasting:

Psalm 90:2  Before the mountains were born, before You gave birth to the earth and the world, from eternity (past) to eternity (future), You are God.

Psalm 93:2  Your throne has been established from the beginning; You are from eternity

Psalm 41:13 Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen

Jeremiah 10:10  But Yahweh is the true God; He is the living God and eternal King

Job 36:26 How great is God—beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out.

Jude 25: to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore!

To summarize, the bible clearly asserts that God “was” before time was created. God had to exist outside and before time existed in order to create it. The best explanation for God's interaction with creation and scripture is that now He condescends to participate with man in a temporal state. For us the issue is to keep the eternal perspective ahead of us. As Paul writes:

2 Corinthians 4 16-18 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.  HCSB

<<    Knowing God: 5 - The Moral Argument

>>    Knowing God: 7 - God is All Powerful

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*Acknowledgment here to Dr. William Lane Craig and his "Defender" series for portions of this material.

Scripture citations are from:  Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) © 2009 Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville TN 

Knowing God: 7 - God is All Powerful

While God is certainly "All Powerful" there are many misconceptions about what this actually means.

What is Omnipotence?

Omni = “All”     Potent = Powerful                                               

God has power to do anything that can be accomplished by power*

*No “force” can overcome logic

Omnipotence defined: To have the power to do anything that can be done by force or might.

This means Omnipotence does not mean having the power to do something that cannot be done, such as create something that doesn't exist, or exert a force that cannot be resisted by the One who created it. God cannot create His own god, or exert force on a logical fallacy and make it true. These paradoxes are actually misunderstandings of logic and reality. God cannot create this universe where Jesus came and died on the cross for our sins, and at the same time never have  Jesus die on a cross.  

Somehow people get the false notion that power can somehow overcome logic or fact. Only one western philosopher seriously contemplated that God's power could contradict logic, and he never found a logically sound or provable example (Renee Descarte – his favorite analogy was to make a triangle with more than 3 sides). "Force" cannot act on logic.

We know from other infinite attributes that His power works in perfect harmony with His other attributes such as holiness and immutability, so Omnipotence does not give a “pass” to reality and logic. God cannot be Holy and evil simultaneously regardless of what power is applied to the process. God's nature is perfect, and so is His Power. He would never use His power to assist evil or to contradict His own nature.  So, God can “do” anything that is logically possible that does not contradict His Nature or conflict with His Will. This seems obvious, but all objections raised to God's all powerful sovereignty rests on a false assumption that God can contradict His nature or the nature of reality as He has Willed it.

Yeshua is also all-powerful. To be all-powerful means that He must be God. The fact that He is omnipotent is taught in John 10:18: No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment received I from my Father. The fact that He has the power over His own life, both to take it and to raise it, shows omnipotence of a unique degree. All men have authority to take their own life, but not to raise themselves back to life.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth  HSCB

Philippians 3:20-21  ...but our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.  He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of His glorious body, by the power that enables Him to subject everything to Himself.  HSCB

Colossians 1:15-17 For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together.  HSCB

Hebrews 1:3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of His nature, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.   HSCB

How is God's Omnipotence important to me?

God’s power, which created the universe out of nothing, is at work in you

2 Corinthians 4:7-9   Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.  We are pressured in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed.  HCSB

God can resurrect the dead!

Ephesians 1:18-21  I pray that the perception of your mind may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength.  He demonstrated this power in the Messiah by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens—far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come.   HCSB

God cannot be stopped!

Ephesians 1:18-21  I pray that the perception of your mind may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength.  He demonstrated this power in the Messiah by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens—far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come.  HCSB

God has the power to keep His Promises!

<<   Knowing God: 6 - God is Eternal and Self-Existent

>>   Knowing God: 8 - God Does Not Change

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Scripture citations are from:  Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) © 2009 Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville TN 

Knowing God: 8 - God Does Not Change

In this post, we cover additional attributes of God that cannot be transferred or conferred upon man in a finite state. We know that:

• God is Immutable
• God is Omniscient (...but He knew that already...)
• God is Omnipresent

God is Immutable 

Immutable = “not changing”.  “Mutate” means to change.
God's Name, His nature, His Purposes and His Will remain unchanged, and I would argue “unchangeable”.  God cannot act against or change His Holy Nature and does not change His Mind or His Purpose.  Contrast this to humans, who are moody, indecisive, capricious and always changing, growing and evolving…

And the material universe is changing too… 

An aside here about the unchanging and Divinely inspired Word of God.  Note the Psalmist 3,000 years ago correctly identified that the fabric of our universe is winding down and wearing out. The universe that God created changes, but God doesn't:

Psalm 102:24-27  Your years continue through all generations. Long ago You established the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will endure; all of them will wear out like clothing. You will change them like a garment, and they will pass away. But You are the same, and Your years will never end  HCSB

Materialist and science fiction writer Isaac Asimov confirmed that the Second Law applies to the universe as a whole:

"Another way of stating what the Second Law is, the universe is constantly getting more disorderly… In fact, all we have to do is nothing, and everything deteriorates, collapses, breaks down, wears out, all by itself- and that’s what the Second Law is all about."

Change is not always good...

God doesn't need to change His mind, or make new plans.  God's omniscience is closely tied to His immutability because He cannot learn or be surprised.  His plans are not frustrated or confused by events in this universe, so His Word can be trusted.  He does not change in character, purposes or wisdom, therefore He can be trusted. Faith can only rest in a God who is trustworthy.

God’s Nature does not change

Hebrews 13:8  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  HCSB

James 1:17  Every generous act and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights; with Him there is no variation or shadow cast by turning.  HCSB

God's Purpose does not change

Psalm 33:11  The counsel of the LORD stands for ever, the thoughts of His heart from generation to generation.  HCSB

Hebrews 6:17-19a Because God wanted to show His unchangeable purpose even more clearly to the heirs of the promise, He guaranteed it with an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us. We have this hope as an anchor for our lives, safe and secure...  HCSB

 God's Word does not change

Isaiah 40:8  The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.  HCSB

Psalm 119:89-90  Lord, Your word is forever; it is firmly fixed in heaven. Thy faithfulness endures to all generations; thou hast established the earth, and it stands fast.  HCSB

God’s Love does not change  

Jeremiah 31:3  “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” This is the way God loves you – with an everlasting love. It is an immutable, unchangeable, and undying love that he has for us.  HCSB

Romans 8:37-39  Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  HCSB

God's immutability does not translate to unchanging for every aspect of God's nature. He is the Living God, ever renewing Love and Creativity, ever renewing His grace and forgiveness to those who call on His name. Where God is unchanging is His Wisdom, His Character, His Purpose and His Word.  We can trust Him.

<<   Knowing God: 7 - God is All Powerful

>>   Knowing God: 9 - God is All-Knowing

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Scripture citations are from:  Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) © 2009 Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville TN 

Knowing God: 9 - God is All-Knowing

God is Omniscient

God can see all reality and events at once.   He knows all truth and the current state of reality "as it actually is".   He is also infallible in the sense that He knows all truth, and deception or error have no effect on His knowledge.   How He has this knowledge if frankly beyond the human mind's limited ability to grasp:

Psalm 139 1-18  "Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I stand up; You understand my thoughts from far away. You observe my travels and my rest; You are aware of all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, You know all about it, Lord. You have encircled me; You have placed Your hand on me. This extraordinary knowledge is beyond me. It is lofty; I am unable to reach it"... 

"For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well. My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began....God, how difficult Your thoughts are for me to comprehend; how vast their sum is! If I counted them, they would outnumber the grains of sand".... HCSB

Job 28:24  For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.  HCSB  

Proverbs 15:3  The eyes of the LORD are in every place, watching the evil and the good.  HCSB

God can see our thoughts:  He sees directly into our hearts; knows our intentions and motives and desires.  These things, being fully revealed to Him, make Him a perfect judge of our actions and motives:

Jeremiah 17:9-10  The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it? “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.”  HCSB

Hebrews 4:13  “there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.  HCSB

Job 34:21-23  For His eyes are upon the ways of a man, And He sees all his steps. There is no darkness or deep shadow Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. For He does not need to consider a man further, That he should go before God in judgment.  HCSB

God can see what "would" happen

God can also see all events in the future, and any possible alternative future events in any possible scenario.  He knows what "would" happen and what "could" happen, and what "will" happen.  "Middle Knowledge" is a term used in theological literature about this attribute of God.  This concept was written about at length by a Spanish Roman Catholic priest in the late 1500's named Luis de Molina.  His name bears the thesis that God both knows what actually "is" and what "could" possibly have been or would be given different circumstances and difference decisions made by humans.

That God has perfect knowledge of potential things that could happen but did not is borne out in Scripture.  Recall the Book of Jonah, where the city of Nineveh was to be destroyed if the warnings of Jonah were not heeded.  Destruction most assuredly  "would" have come since God proclaimed it so.  "But," they repented - and it did not come to pass.  

There are other instances in the Scripture where there is inference of a possible alternative series of events known to God that did not come to pass, including:

• Exodus 13:17
• Isaiah 5:4-5
• Ezekiel 12:3 
• Jeremiah 3:6-7, 3:19:20, 7:31, 19:5, 26:3, 32:35  
• I Samuel 13:13
• 1 Chronicles 2:15
• Matthew 26:39

This “middle knowledge”, or the ability to know what “would” happen in a certain set of circumstances allows God to operate in the world Providentially without harming man's free will.  He knows how a person would respond in all possible situations and circumstances, and can influence events in the world to ensure His Will comes to pass without violating men's free will choices.  So this resolves the seeming paradox of Pharaoh’s hardened heart (after 10 chances) and Judas's betrayal of Jesus.   God knew their hearts and simply acted with knowledge of their actions in advance.

God already knows all possible circumstances and outcomes of our actions, because He cannot learn.  No events are ever unforeseen.  Therefore, any free moral choice we make does not surprise Him or frustrate His Will.  A detailed examination of this topic and competing perspectives on God's Foreknowledge can be found here:  The Mystery of Divine Foreknowledge

Job 21:22  “Can anyone teach God knowledge, in that He judges those on high?”  HCSB

Romans 11:33-36  Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became his counselor?  Or who has first given to him that it might be paid back to Him again?  For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.  To Him be the glory forever.  Amen  HCSB

Why God's Omniscience should gives us comfort

First, God’s omniscience is a basis for total trust in God’s guidance in your life.  God, because he is all-knowing, never makes a mistake.  He never changes his mind because of a lack of foresight.  He never overlooks anything; nothing catches him by surprise. Therefore we can be fully confident in his guidance for our lives.

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.”  HCSB

So based on God’s being all-knowing and infallible, we can trust him to guide us, to direct our paths as we make our way through life. In fact, his way and his will for us are perfect.

In Romans 12:1-2, Paul tells his readers that they should present their bodies as a living sacrifice, pleasing and acceptable to God, and to be transformed by the renewal of their minds.  Why? He says, “so that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  That is the description of God’s will for your life.  It is good; it is acceptable, both to you and to the Lord; and it is perfect.  That means that anything you do to try to improve upon God’s will can only damage it. It is perfect, and you don’t tamper with the perfect.  So, on the basis of God’s omniscience, we can trust him totally for his guidance in our lives, even when this takes us through deep waters and the valley of the shadow of death.

Second, we often we find ourselves in situations where we may be unjustly accused of something.  Or others misunderstand us and mistake our motives. They may malign us and speak evil of us, even though our intentions were good. In situations like this we can take comfort in the fact that God knows our heart.

1 Samuel 16:7 “For the LORD does not look on things as a man looks on them; man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”   HCSB

God knows the motives of your heart, even when others misunderstand and malign you. God understands when we fail.

Psalms 103:13-14 “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.”  HCSB

God knows that we are mere dust and fallible creatures, and so when we fail, he understands us. Also when our devotion seems low at times, God knows the truth. He knows our hearts.

In John 21:17, Peter is confronted with the risen Christ, who asks him three times, “Peter, do you love me?”  John records that Peter was hurt because Jesus asks him for the third time, “Do you love me,” and Peter said, “Lord, you know all things.  You know that I love you.”  Even when our devotion seems low, when perhaps our lives aren’t all that they should be, God knows our hearts. He knows that we love him, and he understands.  This is a source of comfort to us.

Third, this means that when God makes a promise, He can keep it!  This gives us assurance the God's plans cannot be thwarted or obstructed.   His promises are certain to come to pass; in fact God often describes future events in the past perfect tense "as if" they have already happened.  "Done deal".

Isaiah 46:10 I declare the end from the beginning, and from long ago what is not yet done, saying: My plan will take place, and I will do all My will.  HCSB

Finally, God’s omniscience is a source of security in God’s love.  There is no new information about you that could affect God’s love for you.  There are no skeletons in your closet that he is unaware of.  There is no future fall that you might commit that he doesn’t already know in advance that might affect his love for you.  God knows us entirely and thoroughly; he knows us better than we know ourselves.  He knows us warts and all – he sees things in us that are so evil and fallen and depraved that we don’t even recognize them ourselves.  And yet he loves us unfailingly. He knows us thoroughly, and yet he loves us unfailingly.

1 John 3:19-20 says, “By this we shall know that we are of the truth, and reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”  HCSB

Even at those times when we look at ourselves and think what spiritual failures we are and how we let the Lord down, God is greater than that, and his love is consistent. Therefore, that means that there is no need to try to hide from God. That is futile anyway; we have seen that God knows everything, even the secret motives of our hearts. Therefore, there is simply no point to try to hide from God and hide our failures and sins from him.

There is simply no reason to hide from God. It is futile anyway!  He loves us anyway, and therefore we have security in him and in his love and his knowledge of us.  We can bring our failures openly to him, be delivered of our guilt, and have security in his love for us.

God's omniscience also requires that God must also be “all present”, not just in the physical realm, but He has understanding of the hearts and minds of men and angelic beings and the deep wisdom finite beings cannot even grasp.   To know what is "happening everywhere", He has awareness and "presence" everywhere.

<<   Knowing God: 8 - God Does Not Change

>>   Knowing God: 10 - God is Everywhere All the Time

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*Acknowledgment here to Dr. William Lane Craig and his "Defender" series for portions of this material.

Scripture citations are from:  Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) © 2009 Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville TN 

Knowing God: 10 - God is Everywhere All the Time

God's omniscience also requires that God must also be “all present”, not just in the physical realm, but He has a presence in the hearts and minds of men and angelic beings -- an awareness of what we are even thinking.  To be "All Knowing" God has to know what is "happening everywhere", "everywhen" and therefore He has awareness or "presence" everywhere.

God is Omnipresent 

God is outside of spatial boundaries  In and through creation but not part of it.   While we are....finite, spatially limited, insignificant.   As finite beings this is true of all of us:

"Wherever you go, there you are"  ~ Yogi Berra

Pantheism expresses the belief that God is the universe and that everything in the universe is God. This implies that God is not transcendent, or that God comes "from" the universe, and is part of the matter and energy in temporal space and time.  

Even modern scientists have referred to the Cosmos as having the attributes of God and often substitute the "universe" for Deity in their conversations.  This view is opposed to God's attribute of Omnipresence, which states that while God permeates all of reality (literally the force holding the universe together), He is distinct, superior to, and the Creator of all things we call the universe.  

Scripture teaches that God is omnipresent:

Acts 17:24-25 The God who made the world and everything in it—He is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in shrines made by hands. Neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives everyone life and breath and all things.  HCSB

Jeremiah 23:24 Can a man hide himself in secret places where I cannot see him?”—the Lord’s declaration.  “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?”  HCSB

Psalm 139:7-10 Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence?  If I go up to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.  If I live at the eastern horizon or settle at the western limits, even there Your hand will lead me; Your right hand will hold on to me.  If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light around me will be night”— even the darkness is not dark to You.  The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to You.  HCSB  

God transcends space and time and locality – being wholly everywhere, all at once, but not “part of” the fabric of space. God is aware of all reality everywhere all at once and is somehow "present", but He is not necessarily local to a specific place either (like a church or a shrine).  This is an understandably difficult concept, and several errors can be committed about God's omnipresence – 

• that he is localized somewhere here in space and time, 
• that He is “out there” somewhere in heaven and not present here
• that "parts" of God are spread out through the universe. 

The Scriptures are not clear whether God transcends space or permeates – being everywhere throughout space.  But it is clear God is immediate and present in the present:  

Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there among them.”  HCSB

This is the same mystery we face with God and time. God cannot be “part” of space, as space is finite, but clearly the Scriptures indicate He can interact with us in time and space. It would be incorrect to say God is “spread out” among space because at no point would God be entirely 'there'; God clearly can manifest Himself in a single location and yet remain everywhere and yet remain distinctly different from anywhere.

What this means to Christians is that God is present – at all times and in all places. We should live out our lives conscious that God is "in the room". Take God with you. Invite Him to participate in your daily lives. It should also be a source of comfort to know you are never alone, even when you don't feel He is there...

Psalm 23:4 Even when I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff—they comfort me.  HCSB

<<  Knowing God: 9 - God is All-Knowing

>>  Knowing God: 11 - God is a Person

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Scripture citations are from:  Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) © 2009 Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville TN  

Knowing God: 11 - God is a Person

In prior posts, God's Incommunicable Attributes were explained, including God's:

• Self-Existence
• Eternality
• Omnipotence
• Immutability
• Omniscience
• Omnipresence

These attributes are what "make" Him God and us "not God".  He has not conferred these attributes to us.  We are not "like" God in this way.   But, are there attributes of God's nature that He has shared with us?

Are we like God in any way?

Would you believe there are ways we are "like" God?   

Genesis 1:26-27: Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”  

So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.  HCSB

Being in God's "image" is a difficult concept to understand.  It also can be very controversial among believers since it goes to the heart of the dispute over Free Will (Calvinism, Provisionalism, Arminianism).  These videos on Jeff A. Benner's YouTube channel (also https://www.ancient-hebrew.org) may be helpful in understanding the mysterious Genesis passage and what it means to be made in God's "image".

The Image of God Part 1 of 2

The Image of God part 2 of 2

God has given us attributes "like" His.  He has a mind, emotions and a will - and so do we!  We are/have:

• Conscious of our existence
• Creative
• Appreciate beauty
• Love
• A mind and a will* of our own

We share consciousness of our existence, creativity, appreciation of beauty, love, and at times even holiness, righteousness, self-sacrifice, joy, and wisdom.  He has made us vessels to hold these characteristics and to eventually be "Christ-like".  God gave us the model of the perfect person to shape our lives and decisions - because we have the ability to choose right from wrong.

God is a Triune Person

A person has a personality, and can be esteemed or dishonored. You cannot insult an impersonal object or love a "force". God demands to be honored as a person.

1 Samuel 2:30 “...but now the LORD declares: ‘Far be it from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.”  HCSB

Psalms 33:8 “Let all the earth fear (respect) the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.”  HCSB

Habakkuk 2:2 “But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him (in reverence).”   HCSB

This video is instructive of explaining God in One Essence but Three in Person from Focus on the Family's: Truth Project.  The speaker is R.C. Sproul

God is Tri-Personal 

God is "personal" but not one person.  God is three persons of the same essence and substance and existence.  Here are three excellent definitions with that distinction clarified:

Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum  (www.ariel.org): 

"Perhaps the best and simplest definition of the Trinity is that there is only one God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three eternal and co-equal Persons; the same in substance or essence but distinct in subsistence or existence"

Westminster Confession of Faith - Chapter II part 3:  Of God, and of the Holy Trinity:

"III. In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost: the Father is of none, neither begotten, nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son"

Dr. William Lane Craig (www.reasonablefaith.org):    

"Technically it is not correct to say that God is a person. Rather, in Christian theology, God is three persons. This is the Christian doctrine of the Trinity –God is tri-personal. So the correct answer to the question would be to say, “God is personal, but he is not a person.”

All three Persons of the Trinity are God.  They individually and collectively are:

• Self-Existent
• Eternal
• Omnipotent
• Immutable
• Omniscient
• Omnipresent

And only the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity have these Incommunicable attributes of God.

Christ is Self-Existent  

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

Christ is also eternal

Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”

Christ is Omnipotent

Hebrews 1:1-3 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power...

The Holy Spirit is Omniscient

Corinthians 2:10-11 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.  For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

Christ is Omnipresent

Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.

Humans are a Trinity Too

God has made us in three parts:

• Body -- Five senses to apprehend physical reality.
• Soul -- Mind, will and emotions
• Spirit -- Five spiritual senses to apprehend spiritual reality

We reflect the image of God in that we have a Mind/Will, Body, and Spirit...

• Mind / Soul - Seat of decision making, emotional responses to events, desires and creativity - analogous to the Father's role in the Trinity
• Spirit Our Spirit mingles with the Trinity (Father Son and Spirit) when we are born again - analogous to the Holy Spirit's role in the Trinity
• Body - Five sense, apprehend the physical world. Christ is the representation of God in the form of man.

We have Five Spiritual Senses

Like our physical senses of Taste, Touch, Smell, Hearing and Sight, God has given us Spiritual Senses that give us information about the Spiritual realm:

Spiritual Taste: Communion

Bread and wine symbolize our sharing in the communion of the Lord with the sense of Taste.  In our worship and prayer time, we savor the goodness of the Lord.

Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the man who takes refuge in Him!

Spiritual Touch: Worship 

This is likened to the feeling of awe and wonder some experience in their praise and worship of God, or the feeling of seeing beauty or love and knowing God's presence.

Deuteronomy 10:21 He is your praise and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen.

Spiritual Smell:  Discernment

We are given intellect and plenty of scriptural advice, but God also gives us a sense of discernment to discriminate between what is God's Will and our will -- to recognize that our minds often rationalize what we want; or to recognize the deception of the enemy of our souls and their lies.

1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Spiritual Sight: Faith

The irony of faith is that it is "sight of the unseen" that gives us certainty of our path and hope in the future.

Hebrews 11:1,18  Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. 

Spiritual Hearing: Conscience

Like Discernment, with God's Spirit, we are given the ability to hear God's leading and wisdom in moments of quiet contemplation and prayer. 

Romans 2:15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this...

Christ is our Example and Image of the Father

Christ is our Perfect Model of God the Father, and we are told we need to be like Christ.

• Here's the problem: he's a man, but he's perfect
• Here's the wonder: we too can be like Christ

Christ is the perfect man, and represents the Father:

Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Hebrews 1:2-4 In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son. God has appointed Him heir of all things and made the universe through Him. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, sustaining all things by His powerful word.

Now here is a concept to wrap your head around: If Christ is the perfect man, when He took on the form of man and actually became a man, then the things that are true about Christ can also be true about us.  Can you grasp that?  We are to be the "image" of the Father".  We are to be a representation of God's character and nature, and we will be co-heirs with Christ over all things as this special creation called "man".

We are in God's Spiritual Image; we share the Spirit of God and it helps us perceive spiritual things:

1 Corinthians 2:9-10 But as it is written:  What eye did not see and ear did not hear, and what never entered the human mind—God prepared this for those who love Him. Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God

God is Jealous of His reputation

Did you know God does care what people think of Him?  His name is Holy and He is jealous of His reputation.

Psalms 138:2 “...You have exalted Your name and Your promise above everything else.”

God demands our respect
Look at the 1st and 3rd Commandments

• Do not have other gods besides Me
• Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God

Do you have a reputation?
Do you deserve it?

Is your word as good as gold?
If you "said it" then "it's so"?
How hard is it to change a bad reputation?

God takes His reputation seriously because He wants people to take Him seriously, and to be able to trust Him.  After all, He's asking you to trust Him with your soul.

Dr. William Lane Craig “...the Judeo-Christian tradition is quite unlike the rest of the world’s religions.   For example, the pantheistic religions of the Orient, such as Hinduism, conceive of God as infinite, but not personal – he is just the Absolute, some sort of undifferentiated principle, but not a person.  

By contrast, in the religions of Greece and Rome that were fashionable during the time the New Testament was written, the gods and goddesses were personal beings... But they were finite, humanoid supermen and women cavorting about.  They weren’t infinite beings, but they were personal. In contrast to both of these, the Scripture teaches that God is both infinite and personal.”  ~ Defenders Podcast transcript

When God interacts with us and makes promises, gives His word and answers prayers He is interacting as only a personal Being could.

God Keeps His Word

God's Word is a Promise and the source of our hope

Hebrews 6: 17-18 Because God wanted to show His unchangeable purpose...to the heirs of the promise, He guaranteed it with an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.   We have this hope as an anchor for our lives, safe and secure.

An aside about jealousy....

There are two kinds of jealousy, one kind is a sin, one kind can actually be holy:

• The desire to "have" something that isn't yours breaks the 10th commandment - this is the bad form of jealousy
• The desire to "keep" something, to guard what is already yours; something that has been committed or sanctified like a marriage can be a holy jealousy

If you want something and are Jealous for it, that could be a sin if it belongs to someone else - especially another person in a sacred relationship such as marriage.

Being a jealous husband or a jealous wife, however, may be based on holiness.  A desire to keep something that is holy from being profaned, or ruined, such as a marriage, is not sin.  God is jealous for Israel and His people, including us when we turn away to idols.   God demands loyalty from us just as a spouse can expect faithfulness.  Christians are to be "zealous" for the Lord.  What is important to Him should be important to us.  We should be quick to defend His honor, and have a passion to know him better.

<<  Knowing God: 10 - God is Everywhere All the Time

>>  Knowing God: 12 - God is a Creator

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* Acknowledgments

Dr. William Lane Craig and his "Defender" series for portions of this material.  (www.reasonablefaith.org)

Dr. Del Tackett, Focus on the Family: The Truth Project, 2006 - DVD Recording

Jeff A. Benner's YouTube channel (also https://www.ancient-hebrew.org)

Scripture citations are from:  Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) © 2009 Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville TN or New King James Version®. (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson