Good Monday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Today, we’re starting a new journey with “Walking with Jesus”! What journey, you ask?
We’re calling it: “The Grand Narrative” and we’re going to ‘leapfrog’ through the entire Bible over the next several months, from the first page to the last, seeking to gain a fresh perspective on God’s OVERALL STORY, that He has been writing through all time here on planet earth with our human race.
Now ponder that a second! I use the term “leapfrog” because unlike the recent past when we’ve drilled down deeply and systematically into extended portions of God’s Word, on this “Grand Narrative” journey we will seek to follow the entire, long story of God but not drill down so deeply so we can keep moving along, following God’s story more quickly and gaining a ‘wider lens’ perspective.
To prepare us for this journey, it seems to me only appropriate we begin at the beginning with this simple, fundamental question every human being wrestles with at some point in their life: ‘WHO or WHAT is God?’
By this time in your personal life journey, you have thought about it and probably come to your conclusions about God. A wise man, A.W. Tozer once said: “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” What do you think about that statement?
As explorers and pioneers have pushed the known boundaries of human restraints such as geography and history, every people group who has ever been discovered has had some concept of God which they worshipped. Oh yes, there have also been individuals who claim, ‘there is no god’ or ‘god died’, but no entire society or people group has ever lived under that deceit.
Why? Because every thinking person, even children, can see the evidence of God by the existence of things for which there is no explanation of origin other than God. The sky, animals, plants and trees, stars, moon and sun, and especially ourselves, human beings!
Only a supreme being could design and create these things, and we call that being ‘God’. But can you and I and every person actually know the Almighty, the Creator, “God”?
The Bible begins with these words: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) The Bible makes no effort to explain the origination or existence of God. From the beginning of the human race, we humans have known there is a supreme Creator God and humans have sought to know God and enter into relationship with God.
But, of course, our world has always been and is today filled with a vast array of opinions about God, right? So, who have YOU concluded God is? How do you describe God? Is God a person or a thing? Is God living or an abstract idea? If God is living, how old is God and is God aging? What gender is God or is God binary? What are God’s attributes and characteristics? How is God unique from all else that exists?
Now wait a minute! What do those questions, and in fact this entire discussion, have to do with the practical stuff you and I will face in life TODAY? Our jobs, parenting kids, navigating traffic, health, technology, sports, social media, the business economics of your cities and country? And what about global peace and war, poverty and illness, death and the long list of very practical stuff you and I will deal with today?
Oh, my friends, the existence and reality of God is CENTRAL to every topic we could possibly discuss and everything you and I will face in life today! Do you agree with that radical statement? Let me say it again: The existence and reality of God is CENTRAL to every topic we could possibly discuss and everything you and I will face in life, today and for the remainder of our lives on planet earth!
The wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon, said this: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding…” (Proverbs 9:10) That concept is repeated multiple times and stated in various ways throughout the Bible, the book giving us God’s story!
So let me state some clear, unequivocal, definitive statements about God and see if this describes God as you have come to know God. Each statement calls us to think, deeply:
* God is the Creator of all original things including life! Everything that exists either God created it, or mankind fabricated it from something God created, or it has reproduced itself, by God’s design, from God’s original creation. (Isaiah 45:18,19; John 1:3,4; Col. 1:15-17)
* God is eternally self-existent, with no beginning and no end. God has always been, always will be and from God all else has come into existence. (Isaiah 44:24,25; Isaiah 45:5-7)
* God is innately Holy, Good, Perfect, Pure and Love. There is nothing evil in or about God. (1 John 1:5)
* God is ‘Omnipotent’, all powerful. There is no limit to God’s power. There is nothing God cannot do. (Jeremiah 32:27)
* God is ‘Omniscient’, all knowing. There is no limit to God’s knowledge, understanding, wisdom or awareness. There is nothing God doesn’t know about anything at any time. (Acts 15:18; Is. 40:28)
* God is “Omnipresent’, everywhere present at all times, in all places. There is no place God isn’t there! (Psalm 139:1-12)
* God is Sovereign over all things, at all times, in all places. Nothing ever occurs outside or contrary to the Sovereignty of God. (Prov. 19:21; 21:30)
* God is merciful, justice, forgiving, gracious, and always faithful to His nature, His character, His word, His promises, His purposes and His people. (Psalm 117)
* God is ONE God in THREE divine Persons! God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit! God is ‘the Triune God’. There is only ONE supreme being, God, working together as three in one to accomplish God’s purposes through all time, in all places. (Elohim) (Genesis 1:26,27; Deut. 6:4,5; Matt. 3:16,17)
* God will someday judge the world by His ultimate standard of truth and holiness! The apostle Paul proclaimed this powerful truth to the Greek scholars as recorded in Acts 17:24-31 and I urge you to read those verses slowly or listen to them in the audio Bible link below and think deeply about the truths claimed there!
So now what about all the other ‘gods’ of all the world religions and beliefs down through history? It’s really quite simple my friends. Compare the list of attributes and the nature and the character and the claims of any supposed deity with this list of truths, which I’ve given you, about the ONLY True, Living God. If at any point there is difference or contradiction, that other god is NOT the One, True, Living God! (Isaiah 42:5,8,9; Isaiah 45:20-24)
I think we need to pause right here and ponder all this and praise the One, True, Living, Creator, Holy God who invites every person to know and love Him and experience forgiveness of their sins and a return to the relationship with God for which God designed and created each person! Here’s a wonderful worship song to help us celebrate all these great truths about Almighty God! And I’ll meet you right back here tomorrow as we consider the concept of TIME!
Today’s Scripture: Gen. 1:1; Isa. 45:18,19.
Choose below to read or listen.
Gen. 1:1
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Isa. 45:18,19
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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