Question 8: What Is God?

God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.

DAY 1: John 4:24

The context of the passage is the story of Jesus’ talking with the Samaritan woman at the well. His disciples are not around. Jesus comes to the area of Jacob’s well. He is wearied and rests himself beside the well.

Jews and Samaritans were enemies. They were rivals. Their rivalry was more than our local football teams, Ashbrook and Hunter Huss. The Jews disliked he Samaritans because they did not submit to the authority of the religious traditions of the Jews.

Also, we find Jesus speaking with a woman of Samaria. In that particular culture women would come and draw water in groups either earlier or later in the day. However, this woman came at midday, which John MacArthur suggests that it was because of her reputation (having 5 husband and now living with a man without being married) that she came alone. It would also have been unthinkable that a rabbi, such as Jesus, would be talking with a woman of such a reputation as this woman.

Jesus speaks to her in such a way, that she perceives Him to be a prophet and then she begins to speak of the place of worship and the contrast of those places between the Jews and the Samaritans. Jesus tells her that an hour is coming in which worship will not be in the mountain that she spoke of, nor would it be in Jerusalem where the Jews worshipped (vs. 21). He also said she worshipped what she did not know while he spoke of the Jews worshipping what they did know. This is a simple statement that refers to the fact that the Jews had the special revelation of God given in the Old Testament, while the Samaritans did not. Thus you have Jesus following up this statement with, “for salvation is of the Jews.”

Jesus then jumps from “an hour is coming” to verse 23, where he says that it “now is”. He then proceeds to enlighten this woman about the true worship of God. He says that those who truly worship, do not do so in a particular place, but worship the Father in spirit and truth. He also says that, “the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” The verb “seeking” is the Greek word zeteo, which means, “to seek in order to find”, but also means, “to require or demand something”. The latter seems to be the meaning since Jesus uses the word “must” in the next verse.

Verse 24, which we are focusing on, first says that God is a Spirit. This is the first portion of the answer to our question this week, “What is God?” The word for spirit is pneuma, which has several meaning depending upon the context. It comes from the root word pneo, which means “to breathe or blow”, with reference to the wind. The idea is that God is invisible. He cannot be seem by the physical world. Colossians 1:15 says that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. Therefore, since God is invisible, people may know that He is there, but cannot understand anything about Him or what His demands (vs. 23) are, unless He reveals theses things to them. We learned last week that God has revealed these things to us in the Scriptures.

Since God is spirit, he requires those who worship Him to do so in spirit and truth. The term worship denotes one that prostrates himself on his knees with his forehead touching the ground. However, I believe Jesus is referencing the attitude of the inner man. Again, God is spirit and God is extremely interested in what is on the inside of man, rather than the outside. This does not mean that man does not outwardly obey God, but does speak to the fact that man must be transformed from the inside out. Let’s contrast that with the Pharisees of the day. They were white washed seplechures, and on the inside they were full of dead men’s bones. Their worship was unacceptable before God. This deals with the part of worship being in spirit, but what about truth? Again, we reference last week. How can we worship the right God rightly if we do not understand Him as He is. Therefore our worship must come from the heart as we are enlightened by the Spirit of God through the Scriptures.

Ask your family if they understand that God is a Spirit and have them tell you in their own words what it means for God to be a Spirit.

DAY 2: Psalm 89:14; 90:2; 147:5

Today, let’s take these verses in the reverse order, since that would be in line with our catechism this week. First we look at Psalm 147:5. These will be brief and to the point. The Psalmist says the Lord is “great… and mighty in power”. The entire chapter is praise of God and of His providence in the affairs of men and the world around him. When he uses the term great, he wants us to understand that the Lord is magnified. Thus, he begins to magnify the Lord with the praise that abounds in this chapter. For instance, if we wanted people to really be excited about someone they have never met, we would tell them of their character and things they had accomplished. This would magnify that person in the eyes of the people we were talking to. The same is true here of the Psalmist speaking of God.

Second, he says that the Lord is mighty in power. This could be literally translated as, “He is the supreme power”. He is not only powerful, but He is all powerful. There is no one who can hold back His hand.

Thirdly, he tells us that the Lord’s understanding is infinite. His understanding speaks of His intelligence and when it says that His intelligence is infinite, it means incalculable or innumerable. God’s vast knowledge places Him far, far above all His creation.

Psalm 90:2 extols God as the One who is eternal. He is not a created being. He did not have a beginning, nor will He have an ending. God stands outside of time. He is not bound by it, nor does it impose itself on Him. He was before the earth and world were formed and He was before the mountains came forth. The words everlasting simply convey the idea of an indefinite period of time, namely eternity.

Psalm 89:14 speaks of the foundation of God’s throne being righteousness and justice. The two words used to describe the foundation, righteousness (tsedeq)and justice (mishpat), speak actually to what flows from God’s throne. First, righteousness speaks to the issue of right actions, thoughts or words and justice speaks of proper laws and the execution of those laws. So the Psalmist says of God that He is right in His actions, thoughts and words and that He properly decrees and executes judgment in the laws He passes.

Second, he also says that mercy and truth go before his face. Mercy (checed) and truth ('emeth) go before the face of God. Mercy means, “kindness, goodness, faithfulness, pity, and favor”. Truth means, “firmness, trustworthiness, and steadfastness” and also carries the meaning of giving the truth of testimony and judgment. The phrase, “the face of God”, means in the presence of God. It appears that the Psalmist is saying that while God is One who decrees perfect laws and demands right actions, thoughts and words, He is also One who judges based on truth and is One with whom we can find mercy. He is a just Judge, yet He is not One without compassion for those who have violated His law. And if all these things, that we have referenced in these 3 passages are true of God, then they are unchangeable and eternal as well. We will see this more clearly in tomorrow’s lesson.

DAY 3: Numbers 23:19

The context of the passage speaks of a character named Balaam. Balaam was a false prophet, but did hear from God and spoke for God on many occasions. On this particular occasion, it is the second time he meets with the king, Balak, who is the king of Moab. The king wants Balaam to curse the Israelites, but God tells him to bless them instead. Balak doesn’t follow the true God, but is trusting that Balak is indeed using sorcery or some sort of witchcraft to being about the ruin of Israel. However, God is faithful to put into Balaam’s mouth His words (23:5; 16; 24:2).

So, while God did not fill Balaam’s heart with grace, He did fill his mouth with His words. Balaam says that God is not like man, nor a son of man. He references God as vastly different from man, His creation. How is He different? Balaam says that He doesn’t lie. God is not a liar. He is the essence of truth. He also does not repent. Although the word repent is often used when speaking of men and them turning from their evil ways toward God, the Scriptures also use the word repent in reference to God. However, this passage indicates that god does not repent. There are two words in the Hebrew that are translated repent. They are nacham and shuwb. The first word is used in the passage we are looking at here and simply means, “to be sorry, be moved to pity, have compassion”. The second word is used in the Old Testament also, although not as frequently, and means, “to return, to turn back”. What the passage is saying is best summed up by Keil & Delitzch: “God does not alter His purposes like changeable and fickle men, but keeps His word unalterably, and carries it into execution. The unchangeableness of the divine purposes is a necessary consequence of the unchangeableness of the divine nature. With regard to His own counsels, God repents of nothing; but this does not prevent the repentance of God, understood as an anthropopathic expression, denoting the pain experienced by the love of God, on account of the destruction of its creatures” (Keil & Delitzch, Commentary on the Old Testament, Vol. 1, pg. 776). While God does not change His mind about things,

Balaam then tells us that God can be trusted to do what He says. “Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” Yes, when God says He will bless Israel, He will bless them. Likewise, when they do not abide by His words, He pronounces curses upon them. We can expect no less in the New Testament era, than that of the God of the Old Testament, for they are one in the same.

Ask members of your family if they have ever made promises and not kept them. Explain to them how God always keeps His promises and then ask God for forgiveness for broken promises and then ask for the ability to keep new promises.

DAY 4: James 1:17

The context of the verse is in the midst of James speaking of enduring trials and the results of yielding to temptation. In verse 12 he says that the man who endures temptation (better rendered trials) is blessed. The ability to endure trials is a gift from God. Not everyone receives this gift, just like everyone does not receive eternal life. Notice also that when we fail in trials and fall into sin, it is not God’s fault (vss.13-15). Therefore we should not blame God for that.

Now verse 17 tells us that EVERY good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights (God). First, God is the Father of lights. This refers to Him as Creator of the sun, moon, and stars, but also has the idea of all light such as natural, rational, and spiritual light. Lights cast shadows. However, light has no shadows in and of itself. God is light (1 John 1:5) and He has no darkness in Him.

James picks up on the light and the shadows it casts and says that God is not like one that has shadows cast upon Him, nor is He like the weather that variates. He is unchangeable. The word James uses for variation, is a compound word which has the idea of being near to transformation. Thus James negates this word and says that God is not about to change. He is not even near changing.

John Gill says, “wherefore he being holy, cannot turn to that which is evil; nor can he, who is the fountain of light, be the cause of darkness, or admit of any in him; and since every good and perfect gift comes from him, evil cannot proceed from him, nor can he tempt any to it. “

Because God is unchanging in every aspect of His being, we can trust Him that He is dependable today, just as much as He was in the beginning. Exhort your family to trust God and ask them examples of some of the things which God has said He will do.

DAY 5: Revelation 4:8

The context of the passage is John being caught up into heaven in the Spirit and seeing the throne room of God. The first sight he sees is the throne and the things around it. He also notices four living creatures around the throne, full of eyes and having six wings. It is the message these creatures proclaim that we will look at today.

Notice in the middle of verse 8 that they do not rest day or night. That is that they are in continual state of proclaiming the words of verse 8. What is it they are proclaiming? “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come.” They declare first that God is holy. The Greek word holy is hagios, which means “most holy thing, or a cut above”. God is pronounced as thrice holy. Though there are holy angels and though there are those of mankind who have been made holy, only God is thrice holy. He is a cut above men and a cut above angels.

They also proclaim Him as Lord (kurios), which means master, God (theos), which means deity, and Almighty (pantokrator), which means omnipotent ruler over all. They also say He was and is and is to come. This is a reference to His eternal state. He is from everlasting. He is without beginning and without end. The combination of all these things presents God as forever being holy, forever being master, forever being deity, and forever being the omnipotent ruler over all.

Ask your family if they have seen you change. Maybe your spouse could relate some changes they have perceived in you (Hopefully, they will all be good). Compare yourself with the unchangeable God of the Scriptures. In doing so, project the focus of your family upon the dependability of the God of the Bible.