Part 2: NATURE OF THE CREATOR

Part 2: NATURE OF THE CREATOR

In Part 1, I shared that the common theme of the Bible is strict monotheism when it comes to our one indivisible God. Here in Part 2, we’ll go through the qualities and attributes of that one true God as described by the scriptures:

God is spirit. A spirit does not have flesh or bone (Luke 24:39, Matthew 16:17). The Hebrew word for spirit is translated from ruwach, meaning wind, breath, life, among others. The Greek word it came from is pneuma, meaning a current of air, breath, soul, spirit, etc.

God is invisible. He has a spiritual essence or nature, so we cannot see Him unless He chooses to manifest Himself in a form humanity can see. The Bible describes God as invisible in Colossians 1:15, 1 Timothy 1:17, and Hebrews 11:27. In fact, no human has ever, nor will ever, see God (John 1:18, 1 John 4:12, 1 Timothy 6:16).

God is everywhere. He can be everywhere at the same time and is the only spirit that can do that (this is an important quality to remember as you investigate who God is) – angels, demons, and Satan cannot be everywhere at the same time (Jude 6, Mark 5:10, Revelation 20:1-3). When the Bible says God came to earth or appeared to someone, it does not negate His omnipresence. When God comes to earth, he does not leave heaven empty. He can act simultaneously in heaven and in the earth.

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Does he have a body? Not that we know of. He took many forms – temporary manifestations – in the Old Testament so that He could be seen by humans. However, the Bible does not describe any permanent manifestations until Jesus born. 1 Timothy 3:16 seems to imply God is not visible to angels unless he chooses to manifest Himself into some form. After His raising from the dead, Jesus now has a glorified, immortal human body. When the scriptures reference body parts of God – eyes, hands, arms, feet – these are examples of figurative language so that we can understand in our human terms (another essential point). The illustration that Jesus sits on the right hand of God is a classic example of this type of figurative language, representing God’s power and authority. Much more on this imagery in future installments.

God is all knowing. He is wise (1 Timothy 1:17), has foreknowledge (Acts 2:23), and can read our minds (Job 42:2). He is the only being that can do all those things. Satan cannot read our minds.

God is all powerful. He is referred to as, and describes Himself as, “The Almighty” throughout scriptures, and no one can exercise power unless He allows it (Romans 13:1).

God is eternal. He is the first and the last (Isaiah 44:6), had no beginning and is eternal (Deuteronomy 33:27, Isaiah 9:6, 1 Timothy 1:17).

God is unchanging. Malachi 3:6 says this plainly. Yes, sometimes God repents and changes his course of action in relation to humanity, which is because humanity changes. Our creator’s nature remains the same.

God is emotional. We are emotional creatures, created in His image (Genesis 1:27). Of course, God is love (1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:16), but the scriptures reveal a wide range of emotions (He delights – Psalm 18:19, He pities – Psalm 103:13, He hates – Proverbs 6:16, He’s jealous – Exodus 20:5, He’s merciful and gracious – Psalm 103:8, Can be provoked to anger – Deuteronomy 4:25, He grieves – Genesis 6:6).

The scriptures also tell us implicitly that God has a moral nature – being holy, gentle, righteous, good, perfect, just, faithful, and the embodiment of truth. The scriptures here are too numerous to list.

Old Testament theophanies. A theophany is a visible manifestation of God. The Old Testament is full of examples – God appearing to humanity as a smoking furnace, a burning lamp, a whirlwind, a cloud, thunder, lightning, the sound of a trumpet, earthquakes, and many times as a man. These were temporary manifestations as discussed above, and they were for a specific time and purpose.

New Testament theophanies. Other than Jesus, there doesn’t appear to be any manifestations of God in a human form recorded in the New Testament. Jesus was special and unique! He was not just God in the form of a man, but Jesus was God clothed with real and complete humanity. There are “Angels of the Lord” referenced in the New Testament, but these appear to be just that, angels. Some would argue the dove at Jesus’s baptism was a New Testament theophany, which I wouldn’t necessarily disagree, but please see the importance of the dove in Part 7 “Baptism of Jesus”.

I would argue there was no need for theophanies in the New Testament because of Jesus being present. God was fully expressed in the man Jesus Christ, who declared and revealed the Father (John 1:18). Jesus was the visible image of the invisible God, and is described as the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of God (Colossians 1:15, Hebrews 1:3).

In short, the Old Testament is full of examples of God revealing Himself to humanity via many different types of theophanies. When we come to Jesus, it seems the progressive revelation of our indivisible God to humanity over time culminated in the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus, who was the perfect fulfillment or revelation of that one God. Jesus is much more than a theophany.

Now that we’ve just scratched the surface on God’s nature, we’ll continue to our studies on the names and titles of God revealed through the scriptures in Part 3 next month.

Thank you for reading. May God bless you richly as you seek to know Him and serve Him with all your heart.

-Paul

Concepts and ideas have been adapted from the Oneness of God and other books and lectures by author David Bernard. I highly recommend picking up a hard copy.

The One For All series of short articles discusses my view on the oneness of the creator of the heavens and our enclosed plane earth. I do not claim to have the fullest revelation of God. This is my opinion only. For a longer explanation of what I feel strongly the Bible is teaching us, please see “Part 0 – What I Believe” https://paulontheplane.com/part-0-what-i-believe/