Our God: Who is He? The Attributes of God Part 1 Incommunicable Attributes When we talk about the character of God, we have to realize that we can t cover everything about Him. The incommunicable attributes tell us how God is different from us, while the communicable attributes show we are like Him. Although the attributes we will cover today do not communicate to humans, last week we talked about spillover. Because we are made in God s image, we will in part reflect even His incommunicable attributes. Omnipresence Definition: God does not have size or spatial dimensions and is present at every point of space with His whole being, yet God acts differently in different places. God alone is omnipresent; he alone can be everywhere all at once. But, we are able to act in ways that have an impact in many different places at once. We are not omnipresent, we can only be in one place at one time, but even after our lives are over, the presence of our memories, ideas, and words can bring incredible change to those whose lives we impacted. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered almost 50 years ago; however, he is still impacting our culture today although he is no longer here in any form, physical, or spiritual. His ideas live on. That is a good reason for us to consider how we live our lives. Whether or not we are famous, we are making an impact on people, and our ideas will carry on long after our lives are over. Make sure your ideas are good. Now let s deal with God s omnipresence. 1. God is present everywhere and at any time. Yet he is also in specific places at specific times. (More on time when we talk about His eternity) Jeremiah 23:-24 (NIV) 23 "Am I only a God nearby," declares the LORD, "and not a God far away? 24 Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD. As we learned from Psalm 139 last week, there is nowhere in creation (land, sky, or see; heaven, or hell) that we can flee from God s presence. God s presence is everywhere. There is no hiding from Him, nor is there any escaping His view, he sees everything. One thing we need to understand is it is God s whole presence that is everywhere. He is not broken into parts, where part of Him is in one place, and another part somewhere else. God is present with His whole being in every part of space, therefore He can interact individually with anyone and at any time. In fact, He is so infinite He can interact with everyone at the same time. He doesn t have to go anywhere to interact with His people, He is already there. 2. God does not have spatial dimensions. 1 Kings 8:27 (NIV) 27 "But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!
In other words, God is not even contained by the universe. How unbelievable is it that we can t even use what seems to be an endless universe to us to describe His presence. He is not limited by space or time. This also means there is no special place where we have to worship God. Although buildings, and spaces dedicated to Him do bring Him honor, they bring us no nearer, nor further from His presence. Think about this, before God created the universe and space, He was still omnipresent. There was no place we could call a when or a where, but God still was. WOW! 3. God can be present to punish, sustain, or bless. God is present in different ways in different circumstances. In a circumstance of obedience God is present to bless. In a circumstance of rebellion God is present to punish. Psalm 16:11 says, In Your presence is fullness of joy, in your right hand pleasures forevermore. But this is obviously meaning for those who trust in Him and obey Him. Here is an example of the more severe side of God s presence in reaction to disobedience. Amos 9:1-4 (NIV) 1 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said: "Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake. Bring them down on the heads of all the people; those who are left I will kill with the sword. Not one will get away, none will escape. 2 Though they dig down to the depths of the grave, from there my hand will take them. Though they climb up to the heavens, from there I will bring them down. 3 Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, there I will hunt them down and seize them. Though they hide from me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them. 4 Though they are driven into exile by their enemies, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good." Whether or not God s presence brings blessing or punishment is up to the person. How you experience God s presence is directly connected to your relationship with Him. It would be a scary thing to experience God without a relationship. Independence Definition: God does not need the rest of His creation for anything, yet we and the rest of creation can glorify Him and bring Him joy. Once again, we can see that man has the ability to do things independently to a degree; but, if we remove the hand of God, we can easily see we need Him. We can think, act and make decisions without consulting other people, giving us a sense of independence, but ultimately man depends on God, even those that do not believe in Him. God sustains everything we need in order to make independent decisions, this gives unbelievers the illusion of independence, but one day they will see the one that made it all possible. As believers we understand that although we can think on our own, the ability to do anything comes from God. This is where God s independence becomes incommunicable. He doesn t need anyone or anything to exist, think, act, or decide. Let s take a closer look at God s independence. Independence could also be called self existence which is what God told Moses His name was in Exodus 3, when he said, I AM that I AM. Job 41:11 (NIV) 11 Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.
Psalm 50:9-12 (NIV) 9 I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, 10 for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. 11 I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. 12 If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Both of these texts tell us that God has no need of anything He created in order to be God. Many people claim that God created man because He had a need of companionship, or that He was lonely. If this were true, it would mean that God would need His creation in order to be fulfilled or happy, thus refuting His independence. It should be awe inspiring, and greatly encouraging that although God did not need us, or any of His creation, He still created us, and He loves us. We do bring Him great joy. Isaiah 62:3-5 (NIV) 3 You will be a crown of splendour in the LORD's hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God. 4 No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will be married. 5 As a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you. It is an astonishing truth in Scripture, that although God does not need man to have joy, because joy is a perfect attribute of God, He does take joy in man. Immutability Definition: God is unchanging in his being, perfections, purposes, and promises, yet God does act and feel emotions, and he acts and feels differently in response to different situations. Hebrews 13:8 (NIV) 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever. James 1:17 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. God existed before the universe was made, and He will exist after it has been destroyed. The universe changes, yet God does not change. We as humans can stay the same in some areas, for example, we have the same body parts all our lives, but even they change over time. God does not change at all over time. The fact that God never changes, means that He is trustworthy. This attribute makes all the other attributes more understandable. For example, there was no point in God s existence that He did not possess love, goodness, or peace. So when God does something, we can know that what He plans is loving, good, and peaceful because His character never changes even to the slightest degree. Isaiah 46:9-11 (NIV) 9 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. 10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. 11 From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfil my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.
It is a comforting thing to know that God doesn t change. He doesn t change His promises, once He has said it, He will do it. This makes worshiping Him, and understanding His will much simpler. We do not have to wonder if God will be one thing at one time, while completely different the next. Let s take a deeper look. 1. God has passions and emotions. Some argue that if God truly does not change, this would mean He cannot have passions and emotions. While God s passions and emotions are not like man s (fallible and constantly changing), the Scripture is quite clear that God has joy, grief, anger, happiness, and so on. A passionless and emotionless God would actually be incapable of creating anything with passions and emotions. We can clearly see that isn t the case. God s passions and emotions are on display for His children to imitate and do absolutely no damage to His immutability. 2. God responds differently to different situations. For example, some will argue that God changed his mind regarding judgment after the prayers of Moses or His people. God is unchanging regarding His purposes and His promises. Once He has planned something He will be faithful to that plan and the same principle applies to His promises. When God proclaims judgment and the people repent, and then God changes His mind about judgment God s purpose never changed, the situation did. If the people had not repented, the purpose of God s judgment would have been to lead them to repentance. So, it was not God that changed, but the people. His purpose of a people that worshiped Him remained unchanged. So if the situation changed, of course God would respond differently to it. Many examples of this exist from the story of Jonah to the story of Hezekiah. God laid out consequences provided that the situation stayed the same. When the situation changed, God s response to it also changed. God always responds according to His unchanging nature to any given situation. 3. God is both infinite and personal. In other words He is not subject to the limitations that we are, but He interacts with us personally, and according to our needs. We can relate to Him, worship Him, and obey Him. He can speak to us in terms that we understand and respond to us with love, mercy, wrath, or forgiveness. Whatever attribute the situation requires. 4. The importance of God immutability. It is important that God is unchangeable because if God changed for the better, that means there was a time He was not the best possible being. If God could change for the worst, then over time He could become the worst possible being, and there would be no escaping Him. If God could change His purposes, there would be no guarantee that His purpose for us would be the same today as when the Bible was written because they could change over time. In addition, if God could change His promises we would not be able to put complete trust in Him. God also never learns over time. He has always possessed all knowledge and always will. He has absolutely perfect knowledge, so He doesn t need to change. Unity Definition: God is not divided into parts, yet we see different attributes (and persons, Trinity) of God emphasized at different times.
Exodus 34:6-7 (NIV) 5 Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation." 8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshipped. 9 "O Lord, if I have found favour in your eyes," he said, "then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance." (Use the text above to list each attribute shown, and how they are working in unity.) Men are capable of walking in unity, but when we talk about the attributes of God, we are talking about perfection. There is not one attribute of God (or in the Triune God for that matter) that is not in perfect unity with His nature. Every attribute of God is completely true of Him, and it completely reveals His character. The Bible never singles out any attribute of God as if one is more important than the other. For example, you can say God is love and God is holy. He isn t partly love or partly holy, He is completely love and completely Holy. This is difficult for us to get our heads around because we live within our own physical limitations, and God is omnipresent, eternal, and infinite. God s unity is really critical in helping us understand His immutability. God s being is not a collection of attributes added together. God is one being, but we see different attributes at different times. God does not change, but we do see different attributes used at different times. For example, God was not wrathful in the Old Testament, and loving in the New Testament. The particular attribute of God was seen based on the actions of the people. God is still a wrathful God, and He was always loving. Love actually requires wrath. When you love someone or something, it will make you angry to see it making destructive choices, or something threatening to harm it. Wrath is a natural result of love. Because God is in perfect unity with Himself, each attribute works perfectly together to accomplish His will, which is good.
Eternity Definition: God has no beginning, end, or succession of moments in His own being, and he sees all time equally vividly, yet God sees events in time and acts in time. Psalm 90:2 (NIV) 2 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. To say God has the attribute of eternity, is also to say that time does not change God even to the slightest degree. This one is the hardest ones for me to grasp. I can grasp that God always will be, because I always will be, but to say God always has been is very hard to conceive. Not only that He always has been, but He has always been exactly the same! God never learns or forgets, and He always has been, even before time existed. I think it is also important to understand, time is a created thing. The diagram above shows the idea of time s beginning, and the creation of man, and the ultimate plan of God for man. God exists outside of time and He doesn t need time to decide, or to wait and see before He makes a decision. This is why predestination is such a confusing topic for so many Christians. Because God doesn t need time to decide, and that He can see all of history in one instance, for those of us living within time it could appear that God preordained every human decision. Instead, God sees everything to include every human decision at all once, He has already in an instant crafted a plan of redemption for those that would call on Him in faith. This is known as the Prescient View. Some quick points to ponder: 1. God is timeless in His own being. 2. God sees all time equally and vividly. (He sees everything as if it is happening now.) 3. God sees events and acts in time. a. God had a fixed time to send Jesus. (Galatians 4:4-7) b. God has a fixed day to judge the world in righteousness. (Acts 17:30-31) c. God acts within time because He is the Lord of time.