For the duration of this analogy imagine God as an onion. His layers are called "attributes", and all of His
attributes are present in everything He does, just as an onion is one integrated whole, where the onion goes,
all of its' layers are there.
Some of God's "layers" (there are 10) are near the core of the onion, and thus are more difficult for us to
grasp; Such as God's immensity. God has no beginning and no end. He is infinite. We can understand this in
principle, but we cannot grasp it fully. These attributes are "farther from us", in the sense that we are
very limited mentally, and also limited in our relationship to space and time. God is not so limited, and
this stretches our imagination to the utmost immediately.
On the other hand, some of God's attributes are near the surface, and easier to understand. Although all of
God's charactaristics are compatible with His infinity and absoluteness, His immensity, they are made present
in our existence in a quantifiable amount, therefore, we can grasp them to a degree.
First though, before I conclude the analogy of the onion, I should point out that the entire onion has a
designation, too. It is called the Love of God. All of the layers to God's essence are components of the
whole, Love.
The very top layer is Justice. This is the first attribute of God which we contact as unbelievers. Why? Becasue
Justice (+J) judged every sin of mankind in His Son, and this is the foundation of our salvation. But remember...you
cannot ever divorce the Love of God from any other attribute, for this is the "umbrella" under which all of them
function. Thus, God Loved His Son, even as He was judging Him. This same principle comes into play with mankind,
and angels for that matter.
The next layer down is what you might call a "sister attribute" of Justice, becasue they always occur
simulntaneously. This is Righteousness (+R). The mechanics of this relationship is that +R analyzes all input,
and +J carries out the demands of +R, whatever that might be. In the case of sin, +R demanded that it be judged,
and +R further demanded that God provide a way for man to be saved. +J carried out these, and all other dictums
of +R.
The 3rd layer isn't, technically, an actual layer, but I don't want to get theology proper mixed in here, or I'll
be spending all my time defining things, so let's just say the third layer is Grace (+G). Grace is the combined
function of +J and +R, encased in +L. Mathematically it would look like this; (+L + (+R + +J)= Grace). These three
factors, or I should say (including +L) four factors, comprise the image of God, for the most part, that we all
should have.
Once we learn more about God, the other attributes begin to integrate with the Primary Four, and we achieve a
deeper knowledge of God. This is the ultimate objective in God''s plan for mankind, and as involves the individual,
He has a custom designed plan for each of us which climbs heavenward, like a gigantic spiral staircase. We ascend it
by reaching milestones in His Word, and thus a deeper knowledge.
Knowledge of God = Love for God. If we don't know someone, we don't love them.
I remember one scene from a wonderful Charleton Heston movie called "El Cid". His real name, The Cid, was Simon of Bovar,
and he was a famous Knight of the Crown of Spain. His thousands of soldiers worshipped him, and he wielded great power
as a result. But his compassion and courage were legendary. At one point Cid stops to water his horse, and a blind man
was there, at the well, who was also a leper. Cid gave him a drink from his cup, and the man looked up with eyes
that could not see and said; "It is you, Simon of Bovar". Cid asked; "And how did you know this, old man?". The old leper
said; "Becasue only The Cid would give a leper to drink of his own cup."
It's an extremely moving scene, and the point is, even though the old man did not know Simon, he loved him, with
great respect, from the many storied escapades of the man. More than anything, Cid's love of the little people, the
common man.
This same respect grows in us as we assimilate God's Word, which is His thinking. As we grow, move up the staircase,
we reach higher and higher plateaus, but this information is best reseved for another subject. For the present we will
hew to the subject at hand, "Who is God?"
The first installment then, of our examination of this topic, is to understand the undercurrent that is ever present
in any work of God; His +R, +J, +G, and +L. These tell us, among many other things, that God Loves us with an eternal
love, and nothing we consider must be apart from this great truth.
God is so vastly superior to us we cannot possibly comprehend Him in full, but He has communicated with us for the
purpose of revealing Himself, and to tell us what and who He is, to some extent. Because we are finite creatures,
and possessed of an inferior intellect, He has used "language of accomodation" to desribe His thoughts and His
Person in a way which we can grasp. This leaves much to be desired, however, we can come to know enough about Him
to live out the christian life successfully and come to love Him before we depart this life.
Many christians make the mistake of assuming God is much like we are in appearance and manner. Ofcourse, they know
He is superior, but the attributes thay assign Him are somewhat higher than super-human. But God is infinite,
eternally existing, and possessing 10 perfect attributes. Someday, in a resurrection body, we will "...know as we
are known...", a promise which assures us that one day we will know God for who He is, not what we want to make him.
So who and what is God then?
God is eternal and infinite, which makes Him absolute. This dimension of God is extremely difficult for us to
get comfortable with, because we, and everything we know, is finite and temporal, so we are transative, the antithesis
of Him. His comment to the San Hedron is His own definition of the difference; "...before Abraham and Moses were, I am."
In other words, there cannot be a "was" or "will be" attached to God, He "is".
While you're chewing on that we should examine the nature of an absolute. You no doubt know what is involved here in
principle. Let's use darkness and light as an example. Ofcourse, we must acknowledge that these terms refer to the
extreme, that is, complete and total light, and complete and utter darkness. The two are exclusive, unique unto themselves.
They cannot coexist in one locale and remain absolute. Even one tiny smidgen of darkness, as big as a grain of sand,
would render absolute light less that absolute.
God cannot be less than what He is. He is Immutable, not able to change, unchanging forever, without possibility of change.
The absolute nature of God explains alot about Him. It answers the question, for example, "how can God be love, and still
sentence his creatures to eternal damnation?" If He did not judge evil, and put it far from Himself, He would not be God.
The light cannot be reduced by one candlepower, or it is no longer the absolute. But there is another, more fundamental,
reason for God's disposition here; God did not reject those creatures, but offered them salvation from the same love by
which we receive it. They have rejected His love, rejected His offer! We can't forget; God holds us responsible
for the function of our volition, a practice which is certainly not prevalent in our society today. Nonetheless, God operates
on the basis of His infinite attributes, and is not affected by public opinion nor any other influence.
All of God's 10 attributes are a part of His being, and each is absolute. Every one of His attributes are involved in His
every thought and action. He does not do one thing from His love and another from His justice. His love and justice, as well
as His remaining 8 attributes, are all applied to all He does. It would be an extremely lengthy process to define how each
attirbute is involved in every divine act, so certain things He does only mention the most prevalent, or obvious attributes.
Regardless, they are all working at the same time.
This explains the statement about his love in regards to NOT judgeing evil. His attributes make up one whole, and none of
them can be omitted, or God isn't God. Fortunately for us, one of His attributes is Immutablility, defined as the state of
unchangeablity, not being alterable, ageless, retaining a perfect status quo. God CANNOT change. He is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. Thus, His 9 other attributes comply with this one, they are static, unchanging, not subject to time or
space. They are not measureable in terms of time or immensity.
For a more complete discussion of His attributes select that subject from the homepage.
So, to answer the basic question; "Who and what is God?", the first segment of our answer is the above. But this section
is designed to clarify some common misunderstandings which have grown out from the many comments in The Word that assign
God human charactaristics. For example, the phrase "....Esau I hate, but Jacob I love..." uses language of accomodation
to describe God's different relationship with these two people. He is incapable of the sin of hate, but we are to understand
that because Jacob was a believer and Esau an unbeliever, God has an entirely different relationship with each one.
There are many references to "the hand of God", or "the face of God". These, again, are language of accomodation, but they
have a very long theological name; "anthropomorphism". The "morph" part of this term focuses upon a human physical charactaristic.
The "anthropopathism" is an equivalent term which alludes to human mental charactaristics or functions. All scriptures
which use human dimensions to explain or describe God fall under one of these two categories.
God has no body, no hands or face. In fact, He is invisible, and no eye has seen Him, nor ever will. He is spirit. We should
take note of the fact that when God said, in Genesis, that He would make man after His own image, He was alluding to the
invisible human soul. We cannot see the essence of who we are because we are just like God. The "package" we come wrapped in,
yes, but not the actual life force.
One of the anthropopathisms that has been the subject of controversy is the comment God made to Moses concerning the
people of Isreal at the time they were in the desert after being liberated from Egypt. He told Moses that He had "changed
his mind" about them, and said he would wipe them out because they had been so mule headed and sinfull. Moses was adamant
in his defense of the Jews, and God supposedly let Moses talk Him into sparing them. Just a smattering of head work here
would turn up some interesting facts.
First of all, God never changes His mind. He's never wrong, so why should He? Second of all, His omniscience knew billions
of years before what would be happening in the desert. If He was actually so convinced that the Jews needed destruction He
wouldn't have created them in the first place! This event highlighted God's displeasure with the Jewish people on that
occasion, which was a common occurance, because that generation of Jews were rebellious and indifferent to God's Word, even
after all the marvelous miracles He showed them. In fact, that generation of Jews died in the desert, and their children
became the heirs of God's promise of a new land flowing with milk and honey.
So God is nothing like us, not even close, and we can thank our lucky starts for that! Can you imagine an all powerful
being with our shakey emotional makeup? Granted, things would be very exciting, but sooner or later all of us would taste
the lash of divine retribution. How could it be avoided? You're human, and you know that regardless of good intentions,
sooner or later a mud hole blocks our path, and we generally wade right in, no? At least, some of the time. So much for
good intentions!
But God never changes, not one millimeter left or right. This is the substance of our eternal security. We are saved once,
in a momant of time, but that phenomenon cannot be abridged, abandonned, rescinded, changed, anulled! Once saved, we are
confident in the certainty of resurrection because the source of eternal life is Immutable.
But the greatest of God's charactaristics isn't an attribute, but the designation for the whole of His Person, Love. You might
say that Love is a fitting name for Him, for it is the official nomenclature given to the entire Person, the sum of His
attributes. This is true of all three Persons of the Trinity.
So Love charactarizes all that God does, and it is so because He wants it so. Had He wanted to emphasize another dimension
of His essence, He would have revealed Himself in that light. God's Love, then, is the power that moved God to create the
universe, and conduct the whole of history, including angelic existence. It is, therefore, the color of His complete vision,
the Final Product, when the universe will be destroyed by fire, and recreated without the stain of evil. That act will
commence our eternal future, a life in perfect Paradise, free from sin and incapable of sinning. We will abide with Him,
having chosen to be so when He made the offer to us.
This is the sublime End of Things, the complete picture. At the present time we are engaged in some battle along the
rocky path to The End of Things, some minute moral decision perhaps. We are distracted most of the time by the mundane,
the daily string of circumstances. As such, it is difficult for us to keep our thoughts clear, on that highest of planes,
basking in "the glow of eternities' light".
But God sees all at once, time plodding away down here, and the glorious End of Things, they all take up His view
constantly. Any particular moment that He looks down at us, doing whatever we are at a given moment, He glances down the
way to what we will be in eternity future. What He sees is a magnificent creature, a soul housed in a body of light,
pure, unsullied, with a rejoicing in us that exceeds our present capability a million times. His "heart" fills with
love for the beings that inhabit His Eden, the vision that the Trinity embraced before time. This is the reality (yet to
come to pass) that He "dreamed of", and the realm of His ability made manifest...which showers His Beloved Ones with
His generous gifts. He is now free to sit back and relax, so to speak, and just soak up the wonderful impulses that
come to Him as He watches.
When we think of God we must think of Him in this way, and not with thoughts tainted by hair trigger judgement, a view which
sees just one instant image in time, and eclipses the Grand Design. Time, sin, corruption, violence, evil...are all the
unfortunate things which God knew must come to pass on the journey to The End of Things. So great is that future that He
is willing to suffer sin to achieve it. Thus, for this short season, God tolerates corruption. But that will come to an end,
and He will someday put corruption far away from Himself forever, seal it up and dispose of it.