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Nature of God
October 16, 2021

We live in a world filled with human nature where people have different ideas of right and wrong and in our journey of life we weave in and out of trials and tribulations from all of those different ideas of right and wrong that are part of humanity. We focus a good deal of our attention on human nature, and many proverbs are written to explain how to protect ourselves from human nature. The stories of faith from the Old Testament, the earthly ministry of Jesus, and the history of the early church taught in the Book of Acts all have examples of human nature. Today, let’s pause our focus on human nature and consider the nature of God. Ironically, as we focus on the nature of God, we must admit we can focus on the nature of God through the eyes of a person who is subject to human nature. As we study the nature of God today, we will be understanding only the smallest part of the nature of God because how we consider God is limited by our human existence.

In a world where people hate and fear, we will start by contrasting that God is love. In the Greek, love is agape, Strong’s Greek word 26, meaning love, kindness. Because God is love, in order for us to know God, we must love, not with thoughts of romance or sex, but with loving kindness, where we give without thoughts of getting anything back in return. God showed his love to all of mankind by sending Jesus Christ to the world, to die for the sins of all people. There is nothing we can do to repay that debt. There is nothing that God could expect from us to equal the pain and suffering endured by Jesus. Knowing we would be completely unable to repay that debt, God still sent His Son to die for our sins. The best that we can do is to live a life of faith doing what God would expect of us, and even that does not come close to repaying the debt that we have through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It is when we have Godly love for each other, the type of love where we give without thinking about how we will be repaid, the love that is loving kindness, that we can be assured that we will be resurrected to eternal life because we know God, and if we do not have loving kindness for others, we will not have this hope expecting the only punishment, the lake of fire. If God loved us, we need to love each other with loving kindness.

1 John 4:7-11
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

The love that God has can be so intense and complete that it results in mercy, the forgiveness of sins. Do we have within us the capacity to forgive others of their trespasses against us? When we sin against God, we break one of his laws and without the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we would effectively be facing a death sentence. When people trespass against us, it is nowhere near the level of sin. A good way to think of a trespass today is when somebody slights us. For example, a person who we think speaks rudely to us trespasses against us. Words may hurt and we may feel slighted and when we receive those hurtful words do we have mercy to forgive others or do we seek retribution?

Because we are called, we cannot live in a world of trespasses and sins and must become like God, having love for one another, and have a level of mercy within us that we extend to others so that love is extended.

Ephesians 2:1-3
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

In writing to the Romans, Paul explained that long before we were called, Jesus died for us and all who are ungodly, and that this was an act of the love of God towards us and all people. God’s love is further defined by knowing that we are saved from the wrath of God through Jesus Christ. People who call themselves Christians who worry about the wrath of God need to carefully examine within themselves why they have this worry, because if indeed Jesus died for us and we are justified, or adjudicated to be not guilty of sin, we are to be saved from wrath. People who call themselves Christians and still worry about the wrath of God either do not understand the words of Paul, or consider themselves to be the enemies of God. The love of God gave us the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus so that we can be justified and have eternal life.

Romans 5:6-11
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

It is through love that God saves His people. Throughout the history of ancient Israel, there were times of prosperity, and times of destruction and captivity based on the obedience of the people. From Zephaniah we know that God rests in His love by restoring His people with joy.

Zephaniah 3:14-17
14. Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. 15. The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more. 16. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. 17. The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

God’s love for us will not change because God does not change. We have all met people who change their mind. Some people when making a decision are not fully convinced of what needs to happen and these people appear to waffle back and forth and present as indecisive. God knows what needs to happen and there is no waffling with God. God does not change. What is important to God today was important to God thousands of years ago. The circumstances and people on earth that God sees will change. David, a man after God’s own heart is long dead and is no longer alive on earth for God to see. The technologies we have today are different that the technologies that were used hundreds or thousands of years ago, and with all of the change among people, God does not change. Thousands of years ago God was focused on the salvation of people just as today. Thousands of years ago God did not like sorcerers, adulterers, liars, and people who oppressed workers in wage theft, widows, orphans, or anyone new to the area. God still does not like those who oppress. Consistent with God throughout all of the years is a desire that the sons of Jacob be not consumed.

Malachi 3:1-6
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years. And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts. For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

In Hebrews, we are told that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We sometimes lose sight that this does-not-change standard is the standard by which we need to evaluate those who teach us. In the same passage in Hebrews we are told to consider the end of the conversation of those who have rule over us who speak the word of God to us. The Greek word for conversation is Strong’s Greek word 391, anastrophe, meaning behavior. When we consider the end of their behavior, we are looking at their results. Is what a person doing consistent with what they are teaching? If there is a difference that’s commonly called hypocrisy, and should serve as a red flag to us. Sometimes in the Churches of God we hear people speaking of new truth. If Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and if God does not change, how can there be new truth? The truth has always existed and never changed. Our understanding may have evolved. We have changed. As a warning, we are not to be carried about with different and strange doctrines with a basis of knowing we are saved by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, not of meats, and not of anything we do for ourselves. We are saved by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 13:7-9
Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.

God is faithful to not change his word but to keep his promises throughout many generations. That is one of the reasons why we can take comfort knowing that Jesus who died and was resurrected paid not only for the sins of people alive when he was alive, but for all people throughout history. When God makes a promise, He keeps it and does not back down. God does not change.

Deuteronomy 7:7-11
The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.

When God makes a decision to provide a blessing, that blessing will be delivered. There is no person who can undo that blessing.

Numbers 23:18-21
And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor: God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.

When God commits to a course of action, it will happen. God will not go back on His word or commitment, whether that course of action is a blessing or curse. God will not take back what He has committed to do, because God does not change.

Ezekiel 24:9-14
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile for fire great. Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burned. Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass of it may be hot, and may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed. She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire. In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord GOD.

God is righteous. There is nothing unrighteous in what God does. When we consider the best of mankind, the people who are thought of as very good people, none compare to God because as humans we are subject to our knowledge of good and evil, with Adam and Eve by their action of eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil having cast our fate for us. We live in a world where what is good is called evil and what is evil is called good. God is righteous, and as we are close to God we live within the realm of His righteousness, as we call out to him in truth. It is possible to call out God through lies and deceit. God will protect those who are close to Him, who live within the realm of His righteousness, and call out to God in truth.

Psalm 145:17-19
The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.

We are to be holy because God is holy, and one way we show this is by keeping His commandments. We are to worship only God having no other gods with a small “g” before God the Father, and we are not to worship idols. We are to honor our parents as we honor God with our lives, and remember the Sabbath day and annual Holy Days, to keep these holy.

Leviticus 19:2-4
Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy. Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God. Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God.

John wrote that we are to be confident in the return of Jesus Christ, that when He returns, we will have eternal life as we live within the realm of righteousness today, because if we know that God the Father and Jesus Christ are righteous, we must be living within the realm of righteousness in all that we do.

1 John 2:25-29
And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

Living our life on this side of eternity, we can be distracted by those things that are earthly and do not lead to eternity. Worry and doubt cannot be the forefront of our minds, and instead in the forefront of our minds needs to first be a commitment to living within the realm of God’s righteousness as we seek the Kingdom of God.

Matthew 6:25-33
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

When we live within the realm of His righteousness, God considers us to be righteous. When we live within the realm of Satan’s evil, God considers us to be evil and worthy of death. We are to live within that realm of God’s righteousness.

1 John 3:7-9
Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

God is all-knowing. There is nothing that happens within the Universe that will catch God off-guard. Before we take any action, God knows our thoughts and our hearts. God is greater than any thought we have, and God is greater than our heart. God knows all things even when we are troubled by our conscience. It is when we are not bothered by our conscience and we know we are living a life having faith in Jesus Christ with love for each other while keeping God’s commandments that we have confidence in God.

1 John 3:19-23
And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

To the Romans Paul wrote that the knowledge and wisdom of God is too deep to search or fully comprehend. He reminded them and it serves as a reminder for us that all things are of God, through God, and to the glory of God.

Romans 11:33-36
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

Jeremiah shows us that we cannot hide from God, because God fills heaven and earth. There is nothing we do that is hidden from God. All that we do is done with the awareness of God.

Jeremiah 23:23-24
Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.

In Psalms it is recorded for us that there is no place we can go where we can escape the presence of God. It makes no difference where we try to go, God will always be there, and as we yield ourselves to God and live within the realm of God’s righteousness, God will lead us, in times of light and in times of darkness.

Psalm 139:7-12
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

For us, it has been said that two things are certain, death and taxes. There is nothing we can do of and by ourselves to escape death. Even the gift of eternal life is not the result of our efforts. We live within the realm of mortality where death is certain. God is eternal without limitations of mortality. In the Psalms it is recorded that God has been with mankind in all of our generations, a poetic way to say forever. Man lives for a small time on the other hand.

Psalm 90:1-6
Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.

In another psalm, we are told that God endures forever, from generation to generation. Mankind is subject to the limitations of the human condition and the grief that comes through the sin we have on earth.

Psalm 102:1-12
Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily. For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth. My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread. By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin. I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert. I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top. Mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me. For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping, Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down. My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass. But thou, O LORD, shalt endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations.

In writing the Book of Revelation, John describes He that is, and was, and is to come, showing eternal life.

Revelation 1:4-8
John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

In Genesis, we know that God was there in the beginning when heaven and earth were created. Science talks of its big bang theory without being able to explain how physical matter materialized from nothing, ignoring the first verse of the Bible that shows the creation of the heaven and earth.

Genesis 1:1-2
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

All things were created through God showing that God is all powerful. There is nothing on earth or in heaven that is more powerful than God. Nothing is too hard for God. If God can create heaven and earth, God can work all things to good for his people no matter what the circumstances.

Jeremiah 32:17-24
Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee: Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name, Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings: Which hast set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even unto this day, and in Israel, and among other men; and hast made thee a name, as at this day; And hast brought forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror; And hast given them this land, which thou didst swear to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey; And they came in, and possessed it; but they obeyed not thy voice, neither walked in thy law; they have done nothing of all that thou commandedst them to do: therefore thou hast caused all this evil to come upon them: Behold the mounts, they are come unto the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans, that fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence: and what thou hast spoken is come to pass; and, behold, thou seest it.

After Job went through extreme circumstances in his life that God allowed Satan to bring to Job, Job concluded that God can do everything, that God is all powerful and nothing can be withheld from Him. It is when we see ourselves as insignificant compared to the greatness that is God that we know without God we can do nothing and through God we can do all things.

Job 42:1-6
Then Job answered the LORD, and said, I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

Everything that we see with our eyes whether on this earth or in the sky above extending throughout the universe, all was made by God.

John 1:1-3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

It is Satan who is the father of lies. God is truth and cannot lie. Truth springs from godliness and as we seek eternal life that is promised of God since before the foundation of the world, we know that God cannot lie.

Titus 1:1-3
Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;

In the Psalms we are told that from the beginning God’s word is true. There is no lie from the mouth or hand of God. God is truth because what God tells us endures forever.

Psalm 119:159-160
Consider how I love thy precepts: quicken me, O LORD, according to thy lovingkindness. Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

It is through God’s truth that we are made holy, or sanctified. Even though we live in an evil world that has rejected God and calls good evil and evil good, we are made holy through the truth that is the word of God.

John 17:13-19
And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

The nature of God is not human nature with a righteous twist. The nature of God is divine and beyond what we can hope for knowing we are limited in our grasp of understanding by living in a world that knows good and evil. By understanding the nature of God, and how it is different than human nature, by understanding the nature of God, and how God’s nature will ultimately benefit mankind, we are best able to live our lives knowing we fall short of the nature of God while also aspiring to live within the realm of God’s nature.

All verses are from the King James Version.
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