The Lord God

The Lord God

Who is the almighty God? What is he like? From reading the divine words of God written in the Sacred Scriptures we can find answers for all the questions we have regarding the almighty God. Of course our intention from asking all these questions about God should not be to understand and comprehend the divine nature God completely. We human beings in our limited mind can never be able to comprehend and grasp all the knowledge about the almighty God. No one has ever perfectly understood God except his only begotten son Jesus Christ.

We Christians believe in the presence of God even though we do not have a complete knowledge and understanding of His divine Nature.  If a human being has difficulties understanding his own being, how much more he will have difficulties understanding the divine Nature of God? God through his divine revelation reveals to us the necessary knowledge we need to know about Him.

The Holy Bible teaches us that God is a real person. God is not just a man made Idea. God has revealed himself as a person to Moses. He spoke with Moses as a real person who has a name and a real existence. Moses asked God about His name, God said: “I am who I am” in other words: “My Name is I am” It is written:

“He said I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain. But Moses said to God, if I come to the Israelites and say to them, The God of your ancestors has sent me to you, and they ask me, what is his name?  What shall I say to them?  God said to Moses, I am who I am. He said further, Thus you shall say to the Israelites, I am has sent me to you.”  (Exodus 3:12-14)

There is no true God except the Almighty God the Creator, the father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The other gods do not exist in reality. They only exist in the hearts and minds of unbelievers. It is written:

“Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that ‘no idol in the world really exists’, and that ‘there is no God but one.’” (1 Corinthians 8:4)

The God whom we worship is a living God. He truly exists and is constantly at work. It is written:

“Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases.” (Psalm 115:3)

The God which Christians worship is a spirit. He has no Physical body. Since it is difficult for a human mind to understand the spiritual existence of God, He (God) talks about Himself with the mankind in human terms. This is the reason some times the Holy Bible speaks about almighty God as if He were a human being.  We read in the Holy Bible about God’s hands, face, fingers, eyes and etc. In fact God does not have any of these human body members. These words help the human mind to understand the activities of God in the world. The saved ones will see God as is in heaven. It is written:

“Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2)

We the Christian believers with the spiritual eyes of faith can see God every day in His creation. An atheist sees a material subject but a Christian sees in the same subject the power of the creator. For example an atheist sees a tree producing delicious fruit, a bird flying in the sky. A Christian believer sees the divine power of God which has created such wonderful creatures.  The unbeliever believes that he has gained all the necessary things he needs in his everyday life by his own power and hard working.  A Christian believer believes that almighty God by His loving kindness has provided all necessary things for him.  As Christians we believe God is an important part of our lives. It is written:

“Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.” (Job 9:11)

We confess in the creed saying: “We belief in the almighty God the maker of all things visible and invisible.”  It is very true that God made all things. God is the maker of all things and He (God) is not made by any power. God has no beginning and no end. He existed from eternity before all things were made and will eternally exist.  It is written:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being, in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.” (John 1: 1-4)

God is the source of life.  He is all life. He does not take life from outside Himself. It is written:

“For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself;” (John 5:26)

All other things in this world were brought to existence by God. Thus all things owe God for their existence. It is written:

“For “In him we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said,” (Acts 17:28)

It is very difficult to try to describe God. Describing God is as difficult as putting all the water of an ocean in a little whole. Our mind is too limited to contain God and our words are not capable to describe Him.  However, He describes Himself to mankind so that we may be led to praise Him. The Lord God reveals His characteristics to mankind in His divine words written in the Sacred Scriptures, In His creations, in His miraculous actions, and at the end of time, He has revealed Himself in His only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ. It is written:

“No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.”(John 1:18)

In the following verses we are going to provide you with some Biblical words which will help you to describe God.

1-God is eternal. God has no beginning and no end.  It is written:

“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” (Psalm 90:2)

 

2- God is omnipotent (all powerful). It is written:

 

“For nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)

 

3- God is omniscient (all knowing).  It is written:

 

“The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.”  (Proverbs 15:3)

 

4- God never changes. It is written:

 

“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished.” (Malachi 3:6)

 

5- God is Holy. It is written:

 

“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness,” (Exodus 15:11)

 

6- God is wise. It is written:

 

“O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33)      

Saint John describes God in one word saying God is Love. It is written:

“Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”  (1 John4:8)

The almighty God is not merely a loving God but rather He is Love. At the end of time God revealed His eternal love to mankind by sending His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross on behalf of the sins of the entire world. It is written:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”  (John 3:16)

While our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was suffering on the Cross revealed the divine love of God to mankind. Thus henceforth the Holy cross became the sign of God’s love to mankind rather than the tool of torture as some people think. This eternal love of God revealed in Jesus Christ encourages us sinners to approach God as our merciful father.  All mankind is bound to praise God the father for allowing His only begotten son to die for our Sins. Through the suffering and death of Christ the fallen human race is raised, saved and ones again brought back into the household of God.  

When we stare at an invention of a man we marvel. For example we astonish how could a limited human mind invent electricity?  It is also astonishing to us when during the night time we look in the sky and behold all the marvelous stars and moon enlightening the dark night. We astonish by looking in the Sun which has been enlightening the entire world for millions of years.

Our Christian faith is constantly teaching us that God has created all heavens and earth all things in them from nothing for our benefits. We rely on God’s love and power for every breath we take. We depend on God’s word to guide us according to His divine will during the course of our earthly life.  Since almighty God is omnipresent and omniscient, He is present everywhere in this world and knows each one of us personally. God’s unique desire is to save His people from the snares of Satan, Death and, sin. God’s love is always pouring out for us through the Sacraments of the Holy Church.

 

Written by Reverend Dr. George Toma

Assyrian Church of the East

May 11, 2016