Friday 9 December 2011

Who is God?

Not long ago a friend of mine had invited me for a lunch treat and we started sharing on matters related to our faith, well we said a lot of stuff but among the many thing we touched on it became clear to me of the Post modern believe by the people whom I choose to call the 'in between', its the people who do not deny God's existence and yet do not acknowledge his existence. They are known to say that they do not disbelieve and at the same time they do not believe.... this a long discussion for another day anyway but be on the look out for such.
God is indeed Who He is, whether I'm going to describe him or not, whether you will do it or not it will not affect who God is. I personally believe that God is there; He is not an imagination but He is real, He is loving, approachable and mysterious. God has power not only beyond man's full description but even power beyond man's full denial of existence. This means you cannot define him fully and you cannot dispute him fully, we only know what he reveals to us and those who claim his non-existence only do so to the extent of their little knowledge which is foolishness in comparison to his wisdom.
I did post this question about who God is on Facebook and I did not have as much zeal for knowing him as I do at the moment. The more I have desired to know him the more i have desired to know more about him. Reason being that he has been revealing himself to me through his written word and also through what others have said about him, at times I have to ask him directly who he is.  I have had to read quite a number of books on this topic and its amazing how all of them have a uniform definition of who God is.
Its common practice for anyone who try to define something to start by saying what the Dictionary says about, well the Oxford Handy Dictionary defines God this way "Supreme Being, Creator and Ruler of universe" We also have a different definition in my small Oxford Minidictionary as " Creator and Ruler of universe in Christian, Jewish and Muslim teaching" Earlier on as quoted by J.I.Packer C.H.Spurgeon has also said about God as i cited earlier on our Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/groups/hope4theworldinjesus/doc/306693319352411/ . Packer goes on to say that knowing about God is crucially important for the living of our lives and gives this true fact;"The world becomes a strange,mad, painful place and life in it a disappointing and unpleasant business for those who do not know about God. Disregard the study of God and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, as if it were with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you." Well I obviously recommend the reading of this book; Knowing God by J.I.Packer. I will now go on to tell us about the five principles tha Packer says are foundational towards knowing about God
    1. God has spoken to man and the Bible is his Word given to us to make us wise unto SALVATION.
    2. God is Lord and King over his World; he rules all things for his own glory,displaying his perfections in   all that he does in order that men and angels may adore and worship him.
    3.God is Saviour, active in sovereign love through the Lord Jesus Christ to rescue believers from guilt and power of sin, to adopt them them as his children and to bless them accordingly.
    4. God is Triune; there are with the Godhead three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and the work of salvation is on which all the three act together; the Father purposing redemption, the Son securing it and the Holy Spirit applying it
   5. Godliness means responding to God's revelation in trust and obedience faith and worship prayer and praise, submission and service. Life must be seen as lived in the light of God's word. This and nothing else is the true religion. 
I have also posted about the definition and good research done by Marilyn Adamson about God http://www.everystudent.com/features/isthere.html its very important to read through it and see the great explanation she makes. All i have written have read revolves around the same things that the Bible which is the word of God says about him. We shall at one point be looking at the authenticity of the Bible but not right now.
  The Bible has all we see, say believe and have heard about our God, it has enough evidence to help us not only know about God but to even help us know about ourselves. Genesis one clearly refers to him as the creator of all that is, it helps us know how he started it all and this is indeed how it all started. I love the creation story and how it unfolds helps me appreciate how mighty my God is. Gen 1:1 says "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" Gen 1:27 "So God created man in his own image, in His own image He created him, male and female he created them" Exodus 3:14 "God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I  AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you." "
  I do still recall when our iServe Africa team leader Harrison helped us know how well God is described in the bible in relation to his nature, actions and some direct descriptions; He is God the Creator, the Saviour, the Redeemer, the Alpha and Omega, Jehovah Jireh, Yahweh, Elohim, Nisi, Adonai, Elshadai, Rapha, at times as the Judge and other times as the King. David in the Psalms shows his practical experience with God in Psalms 139 by portraying the three main powers of God; Omnipotent (All powerful), Omnipresent (Everywhere) and Omniscient (all knowing).
 Going back a little bit on packer's work he tells of the following as God's perfections which he says are part of his moral characters; his holiness, his love and mercy, his truthfulness, his faithfulness, his goodness, his patience and his justice. I'll see briefly what John Stott has for us in his 1972 Edition; Understanding the Bible; he says this about the Bible; "So the Bible is primarily a book neither of science, nor of literature, nor of philosophy, but of salvation..... Salvation is far more than the forgiveness of sins. It includes the whole sweep of God's purpose to redeem and restore mankind, and indeed all creation. What we claim for the Bible is that it unfolds God's total plan."   I'm sure that i have not done all that can be done but i wish to advice us to read more from the Bible and other book as well as to seek God with all our hearts. To draw us to a conclusion on this I will say that the key thing is not to just know about God but make an extra step of submitting to his Love. Read Jeremiah 29:13. God be with you. Bro. Newton.






No comments:

Post a Comment