Have you ever wondered, who is God? The concept of God is so varied; the same Beloved in different cultures and systems is named differently.
In the following article, we shall look at nine main things that the Bible reveals about who God is. Hopefully, this will contribute to specifying some light on this age-old question of humankind. After all, knowing the true nature of the divine is fundamentally important regarding our spiritual well-being and how we approach life.
The Bible gives an extremely rich, many-dimensional picture of who God is: from His eternity to wanting a relationship with us-the Scriptures give us literally deep insights into the character and attributes of Almighty God. We can never grasp this mystery called God, but studying what the Bible says about Him may drastically change our cognition and experience of the divine.
1. God is Eternal
As we begin to explore the question, one of the first things the Bible reveals about God is that He is eternal. That means He has no beginning and no ending; He always was and always will be. That’s a hard concept for us, as finite temporal beings, to get our heads around.
The Bible certainly reveals that God is beyond the constraints of time and space to which the human mind is fixed. It is in Exodus where God is pleased to reveal His name to Moses as “I AM”- a declaration of His infinite, self-existent nature. Unlike us, God is bound neither to any place nor to any point in history. He simply “is”- the immutible, omnipresent ground of all existence.
Great implications come with the eternality of God’s existence: He is dependent neither on anything else nor on anyone else for His life. He is the Life of all life and the Sustainer of all that exists. Everything exists because He does. God is the Alpha and the Omega, beginning and end – the One who was, and is, and is to come.
2. God is Omnipotent
Another fundamental quality that comes through to be recognized in the Bible is God’s omnipotence or all-powerfulness of God. The Bible describes God as “almighty” and “all-powerful,” in authority and might beyond human understanding.
In other words, nothing is too difficult or beyond the reach of God. His might and control are limitless, unmatched by any being in the universe. The book of Job declares, “God’s wisdom and power are vast; His understanding has no limit.” In the book of Jeremiah, God proclaims, “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?”
This omnipotent nature of who God is means He is totally in control over creation. He sustains the universe by the word of His power, maintaining and guiding all things according to His holy will. Nothing takes place without His sovereign decree, from the rising and setting of the sun, the ebb and flow of tides, and the rise and fall of nations-all according to His command.
3. God is All-Knowing
As the question of who is God? is being pursued, the Bible shows that along with being eternal and all-powerful, God is also all-knowing. This is typically referred to as God’s “omniscience,” or that He has perfect, unlimited knowledge concerning everything.
Simply put, nothing is hid from God. He sees the past, present and future with clarity and certainty in absolute terms. Therefore, the psalmist proclaims, “O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.” The book of Hebrews states that “nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”
This all-knowing nature of God has deep implications. It means that God’s understanding is limitless-there are no gaps or blind spots in His knowledge. He does not learn or discover new things, for He already knows all things exhaustively and intimately. As the prophet Isaiah says, “Who has understood the mind of the Lord, or instructed him as his counselor?”
The omniscient nature of God further means that He is infinitely wise. Perfectly informed, His decisions and actions are based upon a complete comprehension of all the factors and variables involved. Never does God have to guess or make decisions based upon incomplete information as we do. He sees the whole picture and the long-range implications of everything that takes place.
4. God is Omnipresent
The omnipresence of God simply means that He is not limited to any location or region; He is everywhere and at all times present.
It is such a comforting and reassuring truth regarding the nature of God Himself. In whatever place we may be or whatever we have to confront, one thing is sure: we are not alone, for God, the God of the universe, travels with us. “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.”
God is unlimited and unrestricted by physical space or distance, as it pertains to humans. He is not confined to a particular temple, church, or shrine but fills all of creation with His presence. As it says in the book of 1 Kings, “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!”
This is one of the most important attributes of God’s nature in relation to our everyday life and our relationship with Him. That means one can fellowship with God anywhere, at any time. We do not have to travel to a special location or wait for the right time to connect with the divine. God is always near, always accessible, always listening.
5. God Is Absolutely Holy
To be sure, no attribute of the divine is arguably more basically defining than its perfect holiness. The Bible represents God as infinitely pure, righteous, and morally flawless in every respect.
That is to say, God is absolutely separated from all creation, totally free from any hint of sin, evil, or even moral imperfection. Quoting again from the prophet Isaiah in his vision, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” In like vein, the book of Habakkuk asseverates, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.”
It was a definition of the holiness of God that established Him as the supreme, all-powerful, and all-authoritative Ruler of the universe. He was the standard of all righteousness, the embodiment of moral perfection. His holiness was the basis of His justice, the basis of His wrath against sin, and the reason for His unyielding standards.
It is that aspect of His nature which has the most far-reaching implication in our understanding of Him and our relationship to Him. It simply means that God cannot and will not ignore nor tolerate sin and unrighteousness. His holiness demands that He judge and punish whatever is unholy and impure. As the book of Leviticus says, “I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.”
6. God is Loving and Merciful
As we try to find out who God is from a biblical revelation standpoint, we note that in addition to His holiness, power, and sovereignty, God is also, in equal measure, deeply loving and merciful.
While the Bible unmistakably states that God is perfectly righteous and just, hating all that is evil and sinful, it also dramatically displays a God full of compassion, kindness, and grace toward humanity.
The Bible tells us who God is. He is “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness” (Psalm 103:8). He is “the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3), whose “love endures forever” (Psalm 136).
We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s holy standard, but the reminder from the Bible is, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). This was an act of incredible divine love and mercy, and it represents the heart of the gospel.
But God, though we are not worthy of this and have rebelled against Him, reaches out to us in love and offers forgiveness, redemption, and the chance to reconcile with Him again. The prophet Hosea says, “I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them” (Hosea 14:4).
But his love and mercy are not abstract theological concepts but concretely manifested in his gracious dealing with us. Again and again the Bible testifies that God showed compassion to the unworthy, delivered the oppressed, healed the brokenhearted, and embraced the outcast. His mercies are new every morning, and his compassions never fail.
7. God is Triune
This is one of the most unique and distinctive features of the biblical revelation: it declares that God exists as three Persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit. This truth was traditionally referred to as the Trinity, which is the foundation in the Christian faith.
Though the word “Trinity” is never used in the Bible, the Scriptures clearly present God in this three-in-one, tri-personal nature. From the opening verses of Genesis, where the Holy Spirit can be seen “hovering over the waters” as God the Father speaks creation into existence, to the Great Commission where Jesus commands his disciples to baptize “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” the biblical witness to the Triune nature of God is unmistakable.
This is the doctrine of the Trinity, saying that God is one in essence but three Persons. All Persons of the Trinity-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit-are fully God, having all divine attributes and qualities. And yet, they are not three separate gods, but one God eternally existing in a perfect, loving relationship of mutual indwelling and co-equal authority.
The profound truth of God is has deep implications for our understanding of the Godhead. It makes it clear that right at the heart of the Godhead lies an eternally dynamic relationship of love, fellowship, and unity. The three persons of the Trinity are distinct yet perfectly intertwined, working in perfect harmony to accomplish God’s eternal purposes.
To believers, the grasp of the Trinitarian nature should fill us with an abiding sense of wonder and worship. That speaks of an incredible richness and complexity of the divine nature which surpasses the limitations of our finite human insight. As the Apostle Paul exclaimed, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!” (Romans 11:33).
8. God is the Creator
As one wonders who God is, the Bible shows God is not only eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing, and Triune but also an all-powerful Creator of the whole universe and everything within it.
The very first verse of the Book of Genesis declares, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” This is quite a bold declaration of who was God-the sovereign, supreme, omnipotent Being who brought creation into being by the power of His spoken word.
The biblical account of creation is a dramatic revelation of who God is-the omnipotent, all-sufficient, and all-wise Architect of the cosmos. In six successive days, God spoke with facility into being the vast universe and created everything according to detail and design. As the psalmist says in awe, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth” (Psalm 33:6).
This basic truth of who God is gives radical impact to our understanding of His nature and our station in His created order. It establishes God, the fountainhead from whom all life issues and by whom it is sustained. The statement of the apostle Paul asserts that “For from him and through him and for him are all things” (Romans 11:36).
God is not some uninterested, detached deity but an active and involved Ruler, Who sustains and governs His creation in accordance with His perfect will. As the book of Revelation says, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being” -Revelation 4:11.
9. God Wants to Relate to People
The more one delves into the question of ‘Who is God?’ from the Bible’s revelation, the more incredible and engaging one truth comes forth: the great Creator of this universe yearns for a personal, intimate relationship with human beings.
As God is infinitely holy, omnipotent, and transcendent, the Scriptures simultaneously present Him as a relational God who desires to be known and loved by those creatures that He has made. Throughout the grand narrative of the Bible we see God consistently reaching out to humanity, inviting us into communion with Himself.
In other words, from God “walking in the garden” with Adam and Eve, through the promise of the Messiah to come who would restore the broken relationship, to the incarnation of Jesus Christ-God’s own Son taking on human flesh-the overarching theme is this:
This deep truth about who God is should rebuke and revolutionize the concept of the divine. God is to be conceived not as a remote impersonal force or cosmic rule-giver but as a loving Heavenly Father, yearning for us to know Him intimately, fully trust Him, and walk constantly in communion with Him.
It is replete with examples in the Bible of tender affection and relentless pursuit by God towards His beloved creation. He speaks of us as “my treasured possession,” “a kingdom of priests,” and “a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6). He says, “I will be your God and you will be my people” (Jeremiah 30:22). And in the New Testament, Jesus unveiled that we can relate to God as “Abba, Father”-an intimate, family term of endearment.
Conclusion
As you can evidently perceive, what the Bible has to say about who God is contains a multi-faceted and deep portrait. From His eternity to His desire to be in relationship with us, the Scriptures have much to say about the character and attributes of the divine. We are never going to fully understand the mystery of God, but this journey into what the Bible says about Him will profoundly shape and influence our understanding and experience of the Almighty.
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