We begin with the premise that God is,
that He can be known, and that
He has something to say to us.
In every nation and culture, mankind has sensed the existence of an ultimate power. They have tried in various ways to discover how they can know this Supreme Being. The result is religion, the invention of man in his attempt to find God.
Christianity, however, teaches that God has already disclosed Himself to us through His Word. In the Old and New Testaments of Holy Scripture we have the unveiling of God.
The Bible bridges the entire history of the earth. During those long centuries God was always disclosing Himself, because He desires to make Himself known to His creatures.
Francis Schaeffer, referring to God, wrote, “He is there, and He is not silent.”
In the beginning, God spoke and the universe was born out of nothing. We read how He spoke to Adam, to Abraham, to Moses, and to the prophets. The Jews understood God as a speaking God, and through His messengers they often heard the expression “Thus says the Lord.” In the books of the Prophets we read it often. “Therefore, say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Return to Me,” says the Lord of hosts, “and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts’” (Zech. 1:3). Throughout the Book of Ezekiel we read, “And He said to me,” when God spoke to Ezekiel and called him “Son of man” ninety-one times (Ezek. 2:1; 3:3, 4, 10).
When Jesus came into the world, He was called the Word. It was an appropriate name for God’s revelation in the flesh—the living Word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14).
What God has spoken does not change. “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven” (Ps. 119:89). Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Matt. 24:35). And Peter wrote, “But the word of the Lord endures forever” (1 Pet. 1:25).
When God Is Silent
The God who speaks, however, sometimes chooses to remain silent for a time. And when He does, it is in judgment. For example, God freely communicated with King Saul, but Saul’s repeated rejection of the Lord and his frequent disobedience finally caught up with him. When Saul called on the Lord, he received no answer. “The Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets” (1 Sam. 28:6).
There came a time when God’s patience with Israel was exhausted. He told Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, “Do not pray for this people… I will not hear their cry” (Jer. 14:11, 12).
We read in the Book of Proverbs that God promised to pour out His Spirit and to make known His words (Prov. 1:23). But what happens to those who refuse to listen? Solomon declares,
Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, because you disdained all my counsel, and would have none of my rebuke, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, when your terror comes like a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. (Prov. 1:24–28)
God freely shares Himself, but if we finally reject Him, He will reject us.
God Is Personal
What is God like—this Revealer who speaks? First, the God who speaks is personal. He calls Himself I and addresses those to whom He speaks as you. Moses asked God what His name was. “And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you’” (Ex. 3:14).
I AM indicates personality. God Himself had a name, even as He gave names to others—to Abraham and to Israel. The name I AM stands for a free, purposeful, self-sufficient personality. God is what He wants to be, and He tells us that by His choice of a name.
God is not a floating fog, not an it. He is not an aimless, blind force. He is not cosmic energy. God is an almighty, self-existing, self-determining being with mind and will—He is a person.
If you read through the Bible, you find that God is not only personal, but that He is tripersonal. In the opening words of Genesis, God said, “‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness’” (Gen. 1:26, author’s italics). In the Psalms, we have a record of God speaking to God: “The Lord said to my Lord” (Ps. 110:1, author’s italics). The New Testament name for God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19). God is a trinity.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
— John 1:1 —
A second characteristic of the Revealer God is that He is moral. He is the Holy One who is supremely concerned about right and wrong. This is wonderfully expressed in His words to Moses: “The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty” (Ex. 34:6, 7).
This may seem contradictory. After speaking of His grace, mercy, and forgiveness, God says that He won’t let the guilty go unpunished. This assures us that God is just, and that He will not merely say to guilty people, “It’s all right. I’ll let you off the hook.” God does show mercy, but someone has to pay the penalty for sin. The Gospels make it clear that the “Someone” is Jesus Christ.
Getting to Know the Unknown God
A third aspect of the nature of God is that He is the beginning, the maintainer, and the end of all creation. We read in Romans that “Of Him and through Him and to Him are all things” (11:36).
When Paul addressed the Athenians on Mars Hill, he said, in effect, “Men, as I was coming into your city, I noted all the religious statues you have. Obviously, you’re a religious bunch. I even found one statue dedicated to the ‘unknown god.’ Well, I would like you to meet Him. I know Him very well” (Acts 17:23, author’s paraphrase).
Paul told his listeners that God was the source of everything: “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands” (Acts 17:24). God also sustains everything: “He gives to all life, breath, and all things… for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring’ “ (vv. 25, 28). And God is the end, the goal, the purpose of all: “So that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him” (v. 27).
The whole purpose of man’s existence is fulfilled only when he knows God; and man’s search for God must begin and end in the Scriptures because that is where God has revealed Himself. A personal resource, such as the MacArthur Study Bible, can help you learn more about God and what His plan is for your life.
God Is Available
All this is impressive, but it would not mean much if the One who speaks is not available to us. He is available—that is the whole purpose of His self-revelation. He wants us to know Him. Because God is a person, He wants to have fellowship with us. The fact He is moral indicates He wants to deal with us righteously. The fact He is the source, the sustainer, and the end of all creation means our destinies are dependent on our relationship to Him. The fact He is available to us is an exciting concept. We can come into a full relationship with the God who speaks—but only through the way made so clear to us in His revelation, the Bible. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Peter declared, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
THINK BACK
1. What are some aspects of God’s nature we discover in His Word?
2. Why is it important to know these things?
3. How did God bridge the gulf between Himself and humanity?