Who is God?

Announcer: Welcome to Sword of the Spirit, written and presented by Colin Dye, senior minister of Kensington Temple and leader of London City Church. Sword of the Spirit is a dynamic teaching series equipping the believers of today to build the disciples of tomorrow. We pray that you find these programs inspiring, and a catalyst in deepening your knowledge of God, your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and your intimacy with the Holy Spirit.

Colin Dye: Hello, and welcome to The Sword of the Spirit, a school of ministry in the Word and the Spirit. Today we’re beginning a new theme. It is Knowing the Father. Throughout all of the Sword of the Spirit series, we emphasize the Bible revealed truth that God is one. Yes, there is only one God. But the Bible also shows us that this God has revealed Himself in three persons. He is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And we examine each and every one of these members of the trinity in this series. But now, we’re focusing on God the Father. Many people say, “How can it be that God is one and yet more than one?” But I reply simply, “If we could fit God into our own understanding, then we would have reduced Him to our image.” No, we are following the teaching of the scripture and getting to know God in all His wonderful splendor. God the Father is a very important member of the trinity. In this series, we’ll be looking at how God’s name is revealed as Father, how He manifests His love through His Son, and how He brings that love to us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Hello, and welcome to this Sword of the Spirit teaching series. And this subject that we’re approaching today, Knowing the Father, is a very, very deep and profound subject. I’m wanting to encourage you to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. Because this is a school of ministry both in the Word and the Spirit, we are dependent today upon the Holy Spirit to teach us these truths concerning our wonderful God. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We’ll be talking about the whole of the godhead—Father, Son and Spirit, in the early sessions, and then later on in the course, we’ll be concentrating on the first person of the trinity, God the Father. Now when we talk about God, there can’t be many people who belong to Christ who don’t understand that God is made of three persons—God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Yes, one God, existing eternally in three persons—Father, Son, and Spirit. And when we talk about the Son, many people have a good understanding of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and we will be coming to that in another part of the series, Knowing the Son, fully covering Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We’ve already had Knowing the Spirit. Now we’re dealing with Knowing the Father, and we’re coming on to Knowing the Son. And even when we talk about the Holy Spirit, there are many people now who begin to understand that the Holy Spirit is the glorious third person of the trinity and that He is the wonderful hurricane of God—the holy hurricane, the blowing of God, the dynamic third person of the trinity that touches our lives and enables us in so many wonderful ways. And yet, when we come to talk about God the Father, or the fatherhood of God, there still seems to be an obstacle. It has been said that the evangelicals are a Christ centered movement, focusing on God the Son. It has been said that the Pentecostals and charismatics are Spirit orientated people. We are supposed to focus on the Holy Spirit. And the Orthodox Church focuses on God as being the Father. And yet each of these emphases, they’re right in themselves, but they need each other because we worship God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And one of the major revelations of this particular course, Knowing the Father, is the centrality in the Bible concerning the fatherhood of God—both the fatherhood of the entire trinity, Father, Son and Spirit—and also the fatherhood of the first member of the trinity, God the Father. It seems to me that most people today confuse the triune God with the first person of the godhead, God the Father. They know that God is the Father, but they find it difficult to distinguish between the general fatherhood of the almighty God and the specific nature and ministry of God the Father. Now I’m just smiling to myself because I’m watching some of your faces and you know we are in for a really deep time together today and throughout these sessions. And you need your thinking caps on—your Holy Ghost thinking caps. Remember, God wants you to stretch your understanding. This is going to require such revelation from the Holy Spirit. But let me touch on the very heart of what I want to say throughout the sessions that are to come. And here it is—you find it written in the introduction section for you. Everything that the Son has done and still does is so that we can know the Father. Everything that the Spirit does is to enable us to live in the Father’s presence and to fellowship intimately with Him. But sadly, as I write in the introduction, if we do not know the Father and do not know what it means to be the children of the Father in this world, then the Son has died in vain. That’s how significant this teaching series is. Because everything that the Son and the Spirit do is to focus our attention on the Father. And so we’re going to look at the general fatherhood of God and then later on look especially at what the scriptures reveal about the first person of the trinity, that is God the Father.

And so we come now to section number one. And the question that we ask at the very beginning is: who is God? While this is deep and profound, it’s also fundamental and basic. You’ll all understand, I’m sure, that the Bible never seeks to prove the existence of God; it simply asserts the existence of God. Genesis 1 verse 1 says, “In the beginning, God created.” Not, “In the beginning, God,” but “In the beginning, God created.” So we see two things, first of all. God reveals Himself and asserts Himself as the God who exists. But also, He asserts Himself as the God who exists and reveals Himself in His activity. So we’re not mere philosophers today. The word ‘philosophy’ is derived from two words meaning ‘lover of wisdom.’ And so we are philosophers in that sense. We want to understand and to love the wisdom of God. But we are more than that. We are focusing on God as He has revealed Himself in and through what He has done. So when we see, “In the beginning, God created,” what we’re understanding is the kind of God that would have the capacity to create such an incredible universe and the God who has the capacity to sustain that universe. All right? Stay with me, now, friends. Don’t get left behind. Every place in the bible, from Genesis right the way through to Revelation, we have this wonderful revelation that God exists and He exists in all His glory and His creativity and His activity. Then it seems very surprising that there should be some people in the world who don’t believe that God exists. Now what should we say about those people? Are they the very especially clever, the intellectual people, the thinking people? Is that what the Bible says? Not at all.  Psalm 14 verse 1 says, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” And so we’re talking, not about clever people, but we’re talking about foolish people. And notice it says, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” The atheist asserts there is no God. The atheist cannot prove it. Just as we cannot prove that there is a God, the atheist cannot disprove the existence of God. These are both assertions. And yet the one assertion is an assertion of wisdom and the other one is an assertion of foolishness. You need to understand that the Bible word for fool or foolishness is not so much talking about intellectual stupidity; it’s talking about a moral condition of the heart. And so it seems to me that the major reason why people in the world today do not believe in the existence of God is because of a moral simplicity, a moral foolishness about their lives and about their hearts. Although we must say ninety percent of the world’s population believes that there is a God of some sort, and we also need to grasp this fact that it is, essentially, a matter of faith and belief based on God’s revelation. Because the existence of God itself cannot be proved or disproved by philosophical or scientific enquiry. He can only be known through spiritual revelation which is received by faith. And you know this in your experience, don’t you, that when Christ revealed Himself to you and you saw the Father, it was as if Jesus could have said over your life, “Blessed are you, Colin, Simon, John, Tom, Mary, Achmed, or whatever your name is, because flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.” Now very briefly, I want to touch on four arguments for the existence of God. We’re not going to delve into this at any great depth, but it’s just worth touching on very briefly because there are a number of philosophical proofs, or arguments, for the existence of God. We don’t depend upon these, but they do show us that our faith is not blind faith; that it stands up to scientific and philosophical scrutiny and enquiry. Now they’re written for you. Here, we have the first one, the cosmological argument. This gets its name from the word cosmos, which means ‘world’ or ‘universe.’ And it’s for all arguments that begin with the world and end up with the existence of God. For example, people look at the world and see that this world must have been caused by something. It couldn’t have come from nothing or from nowhere, so they then say God created this world. So they argue from the very existence of the world to a first cause or a creator who brought it into being. Now the second argument is called the teleological argument from the word telos, which means ‘purpose.’ And what we have here is a closer examination of the world and we see that there is design in the universe. We see there is purpose in the universe. And this suggests that there is a designer, a purposer, one who has created with purpose. So for example, if we were walking through the forest and we saw trees just growing randomly, we wouldn’t have thought that there was a gardener present. But if suddenly we came to a clearing in the forest and we found flowers organized and ordered in some kind of way, flowerbeds and all grouped together or rows or trees or shrubs planted in a row, we would say, “Oh, there’s a garden here. Somebody has done this.” Mind you, these kind of arguments aren’t all that impressive to really dyed in the wool atheists. For example, there was a gardener who was an atheist and he was the gardener of a very prominent vicar. And the vicar brought the gardener in to do the gardening and the vicar was sipping tea and probably munching cucumber sandwiches at the same time, and he called this gardener over and he said, “Look, my gardener. Isn’t this a wonderful garden? Doesn’t this demonstrate the existence of God?” And the gardener, a canny old gentleman, looked at the vicar and he said, “Well, you should have seen, if this impresses you. You should have seen what this garden was like before I came here and when the Almighty had it all together to Himself.” So we’re not trying to prove anything in the strict, logical, absolute sense of the word, but it does stand to reason that when we see design and order and purpose in the universe, in the created order, that that strongly suggests that there is an architect, a purposeful designer who created it. Then we have another argument—it’s called the moral argument. And this argument maintains that there is a universal sense of right and wrong and that suggests that there is a moral governor that answers to that sense of right and wrong in people’s hearts. And it’s an extraordinary thing that wherever we go, there is such a thing as a conscience and I know that there are sociological and psychological explanations for these things, but nevertheless, they are still very strong reasons to understand the fact that God is the moral governor of the universe, He exists, and He created us with that capacity in our lives. Then we have the fourth one—this is the ontological argument. This word comes from the Greek word, ontos, means ‘being,’ ‘being.’ And it argues that there is such a widespread human concept of God and this in itself must mean that God exists, for there’s no other explanation for this concept in the human heart. And well, that’s a very complex argument and it suggests that God is that which [stutters] than which nothing greater can be conceived and if that being exists only in somebody’s mind, then there’s a greater being that exists, which is the God who does exist, therefore, God exists. Now if you understand that, then you’re going a very long distance. I remember when I was studying this particular argument at university, it took me many, many weeks to come to what I’ve just said. Anyway, we can leave those arguments on one side to an extent because they are not intended to be conclusive proofs that God exists. Because ultimately, it is a question of faith. And faith is that God awakened capacity in our hearts and lives that responds to God’s revelation. If God did not reveal Himself, we would never have known Him or understood Him in the way, of course, that we do.

Now when we come to examine the Bible’s revelation of God, one of the things that strikes us immediately is that the Bible is not some kind of theological textbook with everything neatly and systematically arranged, whether it’s in thematic order or even in alphabetical order. Not at all. God’s revelation comes, even in the scriptures, as the scriptures record a whole range of encounters with the living God in everyday situations and circumstances of people’s lives and in those great moments of salvation history when God intervened in the affairs of humankind. For example, in the great Exodus, as the children of Israel were delivered out of Egypt, walking through the Red Sea on dry ground, that was a revelation of God’s sovereign power, His deliverance, His redemption. And so when we come to the Bible, we don’t see it neatly systematized into some kind of system of theology. But our job as thinking, Bible believing Christians and as Spirit filled believers, who we believe in using our minds to love God and to ponder the deep imponderable truths of the Word of God, our job is to take this revelation, to understand it, to imbibe it into our lives and so so that the knowledge of God becomes more than intellectual understanding; that it becomes a deep revelation of our spirit and our lives are changed accordingly. So the Bible does not seek to prove the existence of God; neither does the Bible seek to define God in some neat, first year university [stutters] definition. Instead, it introduces Him. It reveals Him personally. When you examine the Bible, you’ll find there are very few propositional statements. We have some ‘God is love,’ ‘God is light.’ And the Bible’s revelation of God can be defined in propositional statements, but most often the revelation comes, not as abstract facts about God, but the presentation of God’s revelation in the context of living relationships with ordinary people. And this should draw us deeper into our understanding of God and our relationship with God through His revelation and the Holy Spirit.

And so God’s great desire is that people should come to know Him, not just to know about Him. And so our seeking God—and everything we want to say in this series of seminars on Knowing the Father—everything we want to say is to focus our attention on our personal relationship with God Himself and we will see how lacking that is, generally speaking, in relation to God as Father. And we’ll see that as we go through in the following sessions. But our aim is to learn, not just about God, but to love Him more deeply, to follow Him more closely, and to know Him ever, ever more intimately.

Now let me give you an example of this. I would like you to turn to Psalm 139. Let’s have a look at exactly what I’m talking about right now. Psalm 139 is absolutely packed, packed full of revelation and knowledge and understanding about God. But it is all written in personal terms. Verse 1, “Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me.” So it’s talking about the psalmist meditating on the glory of God as he has experienced God in his own life and as the revelation of God has touched him in a life transforming way. Now in the notes, I have listed for you a number of theological terms which can be derived from the teaching. For example, verses 1-6, we discover that God is omniscient. And I’m doing this deliberately, so hang in with me. God is omniscient, meaning He is all-knowing. Then verses 7-12 teach that God is everywhere, and so the technical term for this is God is omnipresent. He is everywhere present. Verses 13-16 demonstrate His power and His skill, showing that He is omnipotent—all-powerful. And verses 17-24 point to His purity and His holiness. God is holy. Now one thing I want you to notice is that the psalmist does not use these terms. These are technical, theological terms. They are doctrinal terms. And they are good for students to get a hold of because they help us understand what the Bible says about God. But our God is not a bundle or a collection of omnis—omni this, omni that, omni the other. The psalmist doesn’t say, “Yea, verily, thou, God, thou art thou great omni.” He doesn’t say that. He says, “Lord, You have understood me and You have known me.” That’s what he says, “You have searched me. You have known me.” Verse 2, “You know my sitting down, You know my rising up, You understand my thought far off.” Verse 3, “You comprehend my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.” You see, the psalmist is glorying in God’s intimate knowledge of Him. The psalmist is reveling in his personal relationship with God. He is swimming in this ocean of revelation. He’s enjoying it for his own life. And so while technical terms—and I will be using quite a few in this manual, and probably more than in most of the others; it is the most technical of them all, probably, and it’s the one that’s going to stretch you the most. But while I’ll be using some of them, the goal of all this is to open your heart up to God so that you can celebrate Him for who He is.

And so when we consider the Bible teaching about God and especially about the first person of the trinity, we must remember that we’re dealing with a personal, living, relational God, not some metaphysical iceberg or some theoretical deity. No, we are grasping at the very means by which we can deepen our own living, personal relationship with our very own heavenly Father.

Okay, let’s begin then. We’re going to begin by looking at the being and attributes of God. Now first of all, that word ‘attributes’ might confuse you. It basically describing what God is like. What are His qualities? What are His qualities? And of course, the Bible contains such a wealth of revelation concerning the being and the nature of God. And we’re going to look at some of these for the rest of this session. Now I want to say that for the sake of clarity, I’ve divided these attributes of God for the sake of clarity. I’ve put them and grouped them together. But we don’t meet God like that. We meet Him in all of these glorious characteristics and God is all of these things all of the time. And all of these things are interrelated and they cross over. So remember that so in case we end up looking like we’ve just got a great big cosmic scalpel and we’ve dissected God. I mean, imagine the thought of it. Absolutely ridiculous.

Okay, let’s begin. When we come to the scriptures, one of the first things we discover is that God is eternal. The eternal God. It’s one of the most basic biblical ideas about God. And a right understanding of God hinges on our appreciation of this fact that God is eternal. All right? Now there are two aspects of God’s being that are covered by this teaching that God is eternal. First of all, it means that He had no beginning and He will have no end. He Himself is the source of everything—the source of time, the source of matter, the source of life, and the source of all existence. Now He gives us, as His children, the gift of eternal life, but our eternity differs from His because ours had a beginning. God never had a beginning. He never had a beginning, never had an end. Never will have an end. Now we see this beyond time aspect of God’s nature in many passages. Take Deuteronomy chapter 33 and verse 27, and again, notice how this revelation is given in a relational context. “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will thrust out the enemy before you and will say, ‘Destroy.’” So you see, the revelation is coming in the context of personal relationship. It’s not some abstract thing. God is eternal. No, the eternal God is your refuge. So you see, we have to open our hearts to receive Him in this revelation. Psalm 90 verses 1 and 2, “Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” So here we have the psalmist reveling in the eternity of God, the eternal nature of God, but he doesn’t even just philosophize about this abstractly, he reminds us all that the eternal God is our dwelling place for all, for all generations. Isaiah chapter 57 and verse 15, “For thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, ‘I dwell in the high and holy place with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite one.’” And so here we must remind ourselves that while God is this eternal God who is exalted, He lives in this high and holy place, He also is the God in that same capacity who will touch your heart and who’ll live in your heart if you are humble and if you are contrite. So you can see, this is what real theology is all about. Let me tell you this. Real theology is all about what we’re doing now. It’s looking at the nature of God and seeing how that touches our lives and to see what our response should be. That’s what theology should be. The tragedy is, it’s so often relegated to some corner of the mind which they call intellect. Well, we need to grasp Him with our understanding, but we need to receive Him in the depths of our hearts.

And that brings today’s teaching on Knowing the Father to an end. I pray that as you’ve been watching today and throughout all these programs, God will be drawing you closer and closer to His love, that you will really get to know the Father. We’ll be back next time with more in this Sword of the Spirit series on Knowing the Father. God bless you.

Recommended reading

Dye, Colin. Knowing the Father
Kensington Temple, 2007