Moses said to God, ‘Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they ask me, “What is his name?” Then what shall I tell them?’ 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.”.
Exodus 3:14
Over the past many years I have been exploring, with you, the three questions, Who am I? What is my purpose? and where am I going? And to summarize 10 years worth of Blogs into one sentence, if I can. I am God’s much loved adopted son, paid for by Jesus’s sacrifice, hence no cost to me, who has a God purposed life, moving forward to eternity with Jesus at the right hand of God. There is so much more to explore on all three of these fundamental questions, which I will do. But the answer to all of them is to love, listen to and obey God through Jesus Christ our saviour. So I thought now would be a good time to pause, and,as Moses did, ask the question, who has sent me?
Who, then, is “I Am”? As, a fallen and fallible human I am not sure that I can answer this question, so let’s look at the Bible, to get some clues.
- God the Creator Genesis 1 and 2, God created all things, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1), through Jesus Christ (John 1:3). He last creation was mankind, created in His image (Genesis 1:26 & 27), and with His own breath (Genesis 2:7).
- God is Holy Isaiah 6:3 God is pure and without sin. So much so that he cannot tolerate the presence of sin. But God loves us so much “he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) So now he sees the Holiness of Jesus and not our sin, so now we can come into His presence without fear (Romans 5:17).
- God is Righteous “The Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does.” (Psalm 145:17). God is always “Right” and there is no wrong in him. The wonderful part of this is that we can totally and absolutely trust in Him for everything, as He is never wrong.
- God is Love 1 John 4:8, This a fundamental definition; God is Love, this not a romantic love, but a much deeper love, a holiness, righteousness, faithful, trustworthy and, yes, a fearfulness (Though fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10)). A love so deep that he sacrificed his one and only son for a sinful, and faithless us (John 3:16). This is a vast topic, to big to summarise here.
- God is Rich in Mercy “we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2:3-5).
- God is our Father Through Jesus we are now adopted sons of God, adopted as true sons with same inheritance rights as Jesus (Ephesians 1:5). God is our true and loving father.
- God is Faithful Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. (Deuteronomy 7:9). We will look at some of the Covenants God has made at a later date. But God NEVER breaks a promise, so we we can TOTALLY rely on him.
- God is Trustworthy In you our ancestors put their trust;they trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. (Psalm 22:4-5). In God we can trust and because we trust him our faith in him grows He is the roock on whom we stand (Psalm 22:32).
- God is to be Feared “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10), I don’t think “Fear” of the Lord means “Terror” of the Lord. Rather a respect that God is always right and His ways are the best. Sometimes for us to understand this God can allows to go into some difficult places to see that.
This is not an exhaustive list, and definitley in no particular order, and it is a lightening fast, incomplete look at who God is. But please Remember God is so much more than anyone can describe. This is the Image we are made in(Genesis 1:26 & 27) and, Ideally, the image we show to those around us. BUT we are fallen and cannot, in our own strength, show any of these characteristics. We can only show this image because we are covered in the righteousness of Jesus and we have the power of the Holy Spirit in us. So over the next few weeks, I would like to look in a bit more detail at each of these attributes of God.