What Is God Like? Part 1

(To watch What Is God Like? Part 1 instead of reading, click here.)

What is God like? How could the Word be God and Jesus? Does the Old Testament say the Messiah will be God? How could Jesus have been involved in creation when he was born 2000 years ago? Why did anyone have to die for sin to be forgiven?

Welcome to Session 2 of Discovering Good News in John. Today we’ll discuss, What is God like?

We read the first two chapters of John this week, and they contained some deep theology. The first time I read John’s Gospel, its first chapter left me with many questions like the ones with which I began this session.

To answer these questions, we’ll look at more attributes of God. First, let’s review the seven attributes of God we discovered in our first session. God is

1. Knowable
2. Love
3. Righteous and just
4. Unchangeable
5. Perfect
6. A unity
7. Omniscient

Today we’ll look at seven more attributes that are related to John 1.

Seven Attributes of God Related to John 1

God Exists

Indeed, the first verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1 reads:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

Romans 1:19-23 reads:

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Romans 1:19–23

So God exists.

God Is Eternal

That means he has no beginning or end. Psalm 90:2 reads,

Before the mountains were brought forth,
        or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
        from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Psalm 90:2

Jude verse 25 declares that God existed “before all time” and “now and forever.”

God Is Omnipotent

Omnipotent means he is all powerful. Jeremiah 32:17 reads,

Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.

Jeremiah 32:17

In Matthew 19:26, Jesus said,

With God all things are possible.

Matthew 19:26

Omnipotence does not mean that God can do what is logically impossible, such as making a square triangle or creating a rock so big he can’t pick it up. Nor can he do things against his character. For example, James 1:13 says God cannot be tempted with evil; therefore, God will never do evil.

God Is Spirit

In John 4:24, Jesus said that “God is spirit.” He is not made of matter, like creation is. Theologian Wayne Grudem writes,

He has no parts, no size, and no dimensions.

Wayne Grudem, Christian Beliefs: Twenty basics every Christian should know, 26

God Is Omnipresent

Since God is not made of matter, he can be everywhere in his creation at once. In Jeremiah 23:23–24, God says:

Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 23:23–24

David in Psalm 139:7–12 wrote,

Where shall I go from your Spirit?
        Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
        If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
        and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
        and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
        and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
        the night is bright as the day,
        for darkness is as light with you.

Psalm 139:7–12

God Is Invisible

We read in John 1:18 that “no one has ever seen God.” Of course, we see what God does, such as creating the universe. But God has chosen not to make himself visible. Since he is spirit, we cannot see all of his being with our physical eyes unless God manifests himself in ways that humans can perceive him. In the past, he manifested his presence in clouds and even in a human-like form. These manifestations are called theophanies. He has also spoken to and shown visions to people

Of course, the greatest manifestation of himself is when the Son took on flesh and dwelt on earth.

God Is Triune

The doctrine of the Trinity is that within the nature of the one God are three eternal persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are co-equal, co-eternal, and co-existent.

The word “trinity” is not in the Bible. Rather, it is a word we use to describe what the Bible teaches. But neither, for that matter, is the word “Bible” found in the Bible. Further, we use other terms that aren’t found in the Bible, like omniscient and omnipotent.

The first book of the Bible hints at the complexity of God’s nature. Genesis 1:26 reads,

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

Genesis 1:26

By “us” he can’t mean angels or other celestial beings because he didn’t make humans in their image. He made us in his own image.

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

Matthew 3:16–17 describes the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all active in Jesus’s baptism:

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Matthew 3:16–17

The Son went up from the water, the Holy Spirit descended visibly on him, and the Father spoke.

Matthew 28:19 tells us that after his resurrection, Jesus commanded his followers to

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 28:19

Jesus treats the three as distinct persons. The Bible also shows they have distinct roles. And the Bible refers to all of them as God. But there is no time to further develop these teachings now.

Since there is nothing in creation exactly like the Trinity, it’s difficult to fully grasp the concept. The nearest analogy is marriage. Ephesians 5:31 tells us that when two persons are married, they become “one flesh.” Yet they are still distinct persons with distinct roles.

The Questions

Now that we know more of God’s attributes and more about what God is like, we can answer the other questions with which we began.

How Could the Word Be God and Jesus?

John 1:14 describes how it happened like this:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

John 1:14

As I mentioned in Discovering Good News in John on page 18, biblical scholar D.A. Carson, writes that the words translated “dwelt among us” are more literally, “pitched his tabernacle, or lived in his tent, amongst us” (The Gospel According to John, 127). Just as Moses built a tent as a place where God could dwell among his people in a special way, so Jesus came in a tent of flesh to dwell among people. God the Son took on human flesh as a tent.

Luke 1:35 describes the Holy Spirit’s involvement in the taking on of flesh at Jesus’s conception in his mother Mary:

And the angel answered her [Mary], “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”

Luke 1:35

So the Son of God who was with God and was God took on flesh.

Does the Old Testament Say the Messiah Will Be God?

As we read this week, John 1:1 tells us, “The Word was God” and John 1:14-18 identify the Word as the Son of God, Jesus Christ. The Old Testament doesn’t state this as directly as the New Testament, but it does point to the Messiah’s divinity in several ways.

Genesis Hints at God’s Complex Nature

First, Genesis 1:26 gives us a glimpse of God’s complex nature when he says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

Isaiah Prophesies God Will Visit the Earth

Second, Isaiah prophesies about things God will do when he visits the earth, such as open blind eyes and shepherd God’s people. Both “shepherd” and “messiah” are titles for kings. See the sidebar on page 97 of Discovering Good News in John for more details.

Daniel Describes the Messiah in Divine Ways

Third, Daniel 7:13-14 describes a vision of a king who rules forever (as the Messiah is prophesied to do) who appears in the “clouds of heaven,” which suggests divinity:

and behold, with the clouds of heaven
         there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
        and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
        and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
       should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
        which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
        that shall not be destroyed.

Daniel 7:13–14

Isaiah Calls the Messiah “Mighty God”

Fourth, Isaiah 9:6-7 states the future righteous ruler (Messiah) will be called “Mighty God”:

For to us a child is born,
        to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
        and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
  Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
         there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
        to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
        from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

Isaiah 9:6-7

How Could Jesus Have Been Involved in Creation When He Was Born 2000 Years Ago?

The Son of God existed eternally. But he took on flesh 2000 years ago. Even so, he still is active in sustaining creation, as Hebrews 1:3 attests:

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Hebrews 1:3

Why Did Someone Have to Die for Sin to Be Forgiven?

In our last session, I said that sin brought death to humans, but the Lord showed in the sacrificial system that a perfect sacrificial death could substitute for the sinner’s life. But why didn’t he just forgive? This is a question that many have asked.

It helps to relate questions like these to recent events. On a night in 2015 at Stanford University, two students came across a man having sex with a young woman who appeared to be unconscious. They tackled him and held him until the police came. The police took photos of the girl’s disrobed body and then she was taken to the hospital. There she awoke and discovered she’d been raped after passing out from drinking too much at a party.

The man was tried. The woman watched aghast as the photos of her naked body were shown to the jury. A jury convicted the man of three felony counts of sexual misconduct.

The Sentence

But the judge said a prison sentence would have a severe impact on the young man and sentenced him to only six months out of a maximum sentence of 14 years. He served only three months.

The young woman, Chanel Miller, wrote that at the sentencing,

I burned inside, couldn’t speak. I was humiliated, wished no one had come.

Chanel Miller, Know My Name: A Memoir, 237

The public was furious. Voters recalled the judge and California mandated tougher sentences for sexually assaulting unconscious victims.

Just forgiving with little or no penalty trivializes guilt and tells victims that they don’t count. It tells victims that their pain, suffering, loss, and humiliation don’t matter. Just forgiving tells victims they will have no justice.

The reason someone had to die was to tell victims they matter and to tell everyone that their sin matters. If the Lord just forgave our sin, sort of just waived it, then we wouldn’t understand the horror of sin. Additionally, he can’t give the unrepentant eternal life in his kingdom because they would continue to oppress, abuse, and harm.

In Conclusion

In this session, we discovered seven more of God’s attributes that tell us what God is like. God:

1. Exists
2. Is eternal
3. Is omnipotent
4. Is spirit
5. Is omnipresent
6. Is invisible
7. Is triune

From those attributes, we answered common questions about God.

This week, in Discovering Good News in John, complete chapter 2: The Good News. We’ll answer the question, What Is the Good News? See you next time.

Join the Discussion!

Please answer these questions in the comments below.

1. What one thought stuck out to you in this week’s video? Why did it stand out?
2. What one thought stuck out to you from this week’s chapter? Why did it stand out?
3. Question 29, page 24: Share one doubt you had about Jesus before coming to Christ and how God helped you past that. Or, if you’re not a Christian, write one question you have about who Jesus is.