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Who is God? A Perspective on Reading the Bible
by L Cruz III2006
(Under Construction)
It is late Tuesday afternoon, and I’m sitting at my dining room table. Perched on a coaster to my right is a Diet Coke adorned with a cloak of condensation and beside that a virgin notepad and a ballpoint pen. Most importantly, however, sitting peacefully on the table before me, deceivingly silent like lightning in a jar, is my Holy Bible.
As I study its deep black face with gold lettering, I can’t help but give pause to the divine accounts of profundity encapsulated within its layers. Nor can I ignore the truth that I am a simple man with a far from simple mission. I want to learn the ultimate answer to the ultimate question, "Who is God?"
I know God is powerful, I know His absolute nature is beyond most living comprehension and I also know that He is Jesus' father. However, something simply doesn’t add up...and that "something" is history.
History tells us that over the centuries countless men, women and children have been slaughtered (slaughtered!) in the name of "god". Past and current accounts of Christians hating Christians, Muslims hating Jews, atheists hating everyone and so on, plague our human story like a cancer. Yet, the same history also tells us that God has saved, healed, enlightened, inspired, instructed, empowered and transformed the lives millions upon millions of people worldwide for the better (including myself). Why the contrast? I don’t understand. How can the same God of wonder and endless possibility also be considered (by some) a justification for the slaughter of the innocent?
Is there something that I (we) don’t understand? There must be!
I flip open my New International Version of the Holy Bible and thumb through the gold-bordered pages, but not to scripture, rather all the way to the back…to the dictionary. Will there be anything there that may give, in simple terms, a definition that will help further my understanding of Him, the Bible’s scripture and where humanity went wrong? Is there anything?
I reach the “G”s in the dictionary and run my finger down to the word ”God.” This is how He is defined:
God - the supreme creator and the powerful force of the universe; the one who is to be worshiped.
Wow! What an awesome definition! Yes, God is the supreme creator and most powerful force of the universe. Glory to God! But, unfortunately, that is something I kind of already knew. Furthermore, the definition is a little too (in my judgment) all inclusive. I can see how this vagueness could be easily employed to support even the most evil-hearted plans of political extremism.
There has to be something more.
While the definition clearly answers the general “what” question, I want to learn more about the “Who.” Who is God? What can the Bible teach me about God that will help me (and hopefully others) understand a little more about His true nature, thereby leaving His will and scripture less vulnerable to fictitious interpretation?
I invite you to join me on my journey as I examine the almighty question, "Who is God?"
THE SEARCH
After sifting through page upon page of scripture and after draining virtually every other theological resource I have available to me I have discovered that, while the Old Testament is rich with profound jewels of spiritual wisdom, it wasn't until Jesus Christ was born that the nature of God was most accurately revealed to the world. This is important information because understanding God's nature not only clarifies scripture we have already read, but it also helps us identify spiritual lessons and messages from God that we might have otherwise overlooked.
But first, before I share the specifics of what I have learned, I feel I should express the magnitude of what we are about to receive.
What we are about to receive is overwhelming truth. It is a Truth, a wisdom that gives even wise and seasoned Christians chills when its concepts are honestly reflected upon. It is wisdom by which to live. However, this quite naturally raises another question…a question about “wisdom” itself. How can one clearly differentiate between right and wrong wisdom? How can we be sure that right wisdom is right wisdom and not the result of faulty deductions or those with evil intent.
Jesus himself gave us the answer.
Luke 7:35
Jesus said, "But wisdom is proved right by all her children."
Did you get that? Right wisdom will be proven to you. It does not require that you accept “because I said so” as a reason for believing such wisdom, as it (through God) will do all the work and you will personally see the results.
All you have to do is receive and contemplate. Then, if what you have received turns out to be true (whether found here or elsewhere), it will prove itself to be a spiritual tree of life (so to speak).
Although I am confident that what you are about to read is absolute truth, don't take my word for it. Let go and digest the coming wisdom that will describe the very nature of God Himself, then witness changes in your spiritual growth.
Now, let us finally find the ultimate answer to the ultimate question, "Who is God?" For this, we turn to the Bible.
1 John 4:7-8
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Wow. How profound! Who is God? God is love! ...a Divine love that knows no limits!
Furthermore, not only is God love now, but God has always been love. If it is from love, it is from God. If it is from God, it is from love. Since the very beginning of time, from Genesis on, God has always been love.
We have found our answer. The “supreme creator and the powerful force of the universe” is God, Who is love. Take a moment to reflect upon that truth. The “supreme creator and the powerful force of the universe” is God, Who is love.
But wait a minute. What about the notion of the ever popular God-of-endless-punishment fame? Where does fear fit into the picture? For the answer, let us return to the scripture.
1 John 4:16-18
"...God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."
Hmm. Fear is a limiting force but perfect love, on the other hand, is supremely powerful...so powerful, in fact, that it can actually make one "perfect." This means that God's love and our fear are opposites. How absolutely profound!
Now that we have established that fear is the opposite of love, and that God is Himself love, and that He has always been love, during the times of the Old Testament and New, we can also easily deduce that the horrible historical accounts, to which I have previously referenced, were not from God who is love but from the apposing force of fear as fear and love are opposites! Wow!
Now, let us have some epiphanies. How can our new (to some) understanding of God help us better comprehend the scripture in the Bible that we thought we knew so well?
The answer is easy, yet amazing! We can accomplish this by returning to 1 John 4 and by adding a few words that reflect our new understanding. Every time we see the word God, or another word that signifies God, I will add “Who is love.” I humbly request that you take a serious moment to reflect upon what you are about to read.
1 John 4:4-8 (edited)
'You, dear children are from God, Who is love, and have overcome them, because the One, who is love, who is in you is greater than the one who is (fear) in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, Who is love, and whoever knows God, Who is love, listens to us; but whoever is not from God, Who is love, does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the spirit of truth, which is love and the spirit of falsehood, which is fear.
'Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God, Who is love. Everyone who loves has been born of God, Who is love, and knows God, Who is love. Whoever does not love does not know God, Who is love, because God who is love...is love.'
That was amazing!
The first time I had heard 1 John 4:4-8 read that way was by TV evangelist Dr. Creflo Dollar. And, I must admit, I got immediate chills as epiphanies started firing wildly. The popular false perception of God as a god of vengeance, anger, fire and brimstone fell away as the true nature of His love and our fears emerged. Scripture and life seemed to take on a whole new and clarified meaning.
Now, lets start doing things with our understanding that I have yet to see done. Like I said before, if God is love now, that means He has always been love and always will be love. Let us prove this point by going back to the first book in the Bible...Genesis!
Genesis 1:27-31 (edited)
So God, Who is love, created man in his own image,
in the image of God, Who is love, he created him;
male and female he, who is love, created them.
God, Who is love, blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Then God, Who is love, said, "I, Who am love, give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I, Who am love, give every green plant for food." And it was so.
God, Who is love, saw all that He, Who is love, had made, and it was very good.
How profound! By rereading this scripture under our light of new understanding, it becomes perfectly plain to see that God created everything in this universe out of love. Love is the binding force. And what’s more, He created us in His image. Again I say, “Wow!”
If you are anything like me, then I am sure you are beginning to experience the awesome power of His “right wisdom.” It is proving itself to be truer that true. God is love!
Let us try it again, but this time we will use extremely important scripture to which I will refer in later articles.
Genesis 2:15-18
The LORD God, Who is love, took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God, Who is love, commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." (A statement made out of loving concern.)
The LORD God, Who is love, said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I, Who am love, will make a helper suitable for him."
Again…awesome! Glory to God!!!
So far we have learned that God is love, He made the universe out of love, He made Adam and Eve out of love and He gave them loving commands. We also learned that fear is the opposite of love.
Let us now visit a cool day in the Garden of Eden where we find Eve picking fruit for food. While carrying out her task, she is met by a creature who offers commentary that directly contradicts God’s commands. The creature is a serpent.
Since we have established that God is love, and that love and fear are opposites, this means that the contradicting serpent uses fear.
See if you can identify the seamless transfer of fear. (This too is extremely important to later articles!)
Genesis 3:2-11
The woman said to the serpent, who uses fear, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God, Who is love, did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "
"You will not surely die," the serpent, who uses fear, said to the woman. "For God, Who is love, knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, Who is love, knowing good and evil."
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened (to fear), and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God, Who is love, as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God, Who is love, among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God, Who is love, called to the man, "Where are you?"
He answered, "I heard You, Who are love, in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."
And He, Who is love, said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I, Who am love, commanded you not to eat from?"
Above, the highlighted word “afraid” is the first time scripture reflects fear in man. Did you see the seamless transference of fear? Did you also see how the serpent could not get into Eve’s mind, therefore having to resort to external temptation?
It seems to me that much of the rest of the Old Testament’s scripture is a reflection of the struggle between fear and love.
If you are anything like me, you will thoughtfully reflect upon everything we discussed above. Also, I will also apply these concepts to other scriptural excerpts.
I invite all e-mail!
May God, Who is love, bless you!