Who is God?
Exercise:
The passage today is about God and how he has made himself known. Before you even begin reading take a few minutes to write down your main ideas about God:
Who is GOD?
Your ideas about God are the most important part of you! But God’s thoughts about you decide your very existence!
The most important questions in life are those concerning God. The reason for this is quite simply because God gives context, meaning, content and direction to everything that exists. When we find the answer to who God is, we also find the answer to other existential questions like: “Why am I alive?” “Who am I?” “Where am I going?”
What you believe about God will affect your whole life. You will always build your life according to your understanding of God. That is why it is so important that you build your life on a foundation that holds you up when you meet opposition and difficulties in life. You need a foundation to stand on and something that gives you the strength to meet adversity, success and good times.
There are very many opinions about God, but when it comes to the most important question in life, we cannot afford to go wrong. People who are Christians believe that God has left footprints to follow in order to find Him. He has given us a testimony about Himself so that we can know who He is. He has made Himself known as a person so that we can know Him and have fellowship with Him.
God has made Himself known
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; (Rom. 1:19-20)
Creation
The whole universe testifies of God’s greatness and majesty. In everything from the tiniest atom to the greatest galaxy there appears to be a regularity bearing witness to an intelligent creator who is behind it all. There is a reason behind everything in the world we know. The reason behind it all is God, the Creator Himself.
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. (Psalms 19:2)
“Neither a wall clock nor a pocket watch, not even a little wrist watch makes itself. Even so, many people believe that those things by which we set our clocks - the sun, stars, seasons, heaven and earth - have created themselves. There is an unbelievable stupidity, an unparalleled foolishness which is the basis for the general atheism of this time.” (Jens Bjørneboe – Norwegian author)
Morality
Everyone is equipped with a moral conscience, a sense that some things are right and some things are wrong; some are good and some are evil. The existence of man’s moral nature reveals that behind mankind there is a holy God. A God who is lawgiver and judge and before whom all humanity must one day stand accountable.
The Bible clearly says that man is created in the image of God and that God’s law is written within him. A man’s conscience will either accuse or defend him.
History of religion
All the known races have ideas about God. Even the most primitive and remote tribes that have been discovered have some idea of God. The universal God-consciousness shows that at all times religion has been an integral part of human nature. This clearly testifies to the fact that man is created in God’s image to live in fellowship with the Creator.
Experience
Millions of people around the world can come forward and tell us about their experiences of God’s help and presence. More and more people are experiencing God through Jesus Christ.
People can use whatever argument to refute God’s existence, or explain away who He is, but millions of people from all tribes, peoples, races and nations will just smile and say with Job:
I know that my redeemer lives, and on the last day he shall stand upon the earth. (Job 19:25)
Christians from different cultures will, in different ways, witness and talk about salvation and deliverance, harmony and healing, hope and love which are real and experienced in fellowship with Jesus Christ – the Son of the living God.
Exercise
What is your experience of God?
Revelation
God has made Himself known to humanity in many ways over the course of time. He has given us a book which tells us how He revealed Himself and spoke to people with different backgrounds and statuses in society. This book is called the Bible and is actually a library of 66 books. The Bible says:
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, (Hebrew 1:1-3)
No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. (John 1:18)
The sum of the Bible’s teaching is that God is like Jesus Christ. In Jesus is found the ultimate and complete revelation of God. Jesus has shown us who God is through His life, death and resurrection. The exclusive demand of Christianity is this: We can only learn to know God through Jesus Christ!