10/8/20151

2 After having examined the evidence, the reasonable conclusion we have come to is that this evidence points to a supreme intelligence that has always existed and that we call this intelligence God

10/8/20153 Therefore we can conclude that we can KNOW that there is a God because we can see the evidence of His existence everywhere about us in nature. But had God not chosen to reveal Himself to man, there would be no way of determining what He is like.

10/8/20154 The Bible. however, portrays the characteristics of the supreme being and in this lesson we shall study several of these characteristics or the essence of God.

10/8/20155 I would like us to examine that which is the "essence" of God we will find that it deals with that which underlies all of the outward manifestations of God, in other words, with what God is. We note that by "ESSENCE" we mean the unobservable, natural reality of being that lies behind God's attributes. We understand that the Bible describes the essence of God as first being Spirit, a pure and personal spirit.

10/8/20156 God is Boundless; 1. God's boundlessness refers to His relationship to time, space, matter, and whatsoever is beyond that Every aspect and element of His nature is infinite. 2. In simple terms, God is not bound; He has no limits. The infinity or immensity of God is beyond human comprehension.

10/8/ In our limited concept, we ask: "How BIG is God?". a. This question is out of order, though, when applied to God. b. "Big" is a relative term that involves a comparison. A dog is big when compared to a mouse, but small when compared to an elephant.

10/8/20158 c. But, to what could we compare God? It is impossible to define God in terms of bigness. He simply is not contained in space or comparable to any known object. 4. Read 1 Kings 8:27; Isaiah 66:l.

10/8/20159 We have already seen that great difficulty lies ahead, of us when finite man tries to describe and understand fully the Infinite God. We have the same problem when we come to talk about the "attributes" of God. The word basically carries the idea of adding or assigning something to someone. We must be very careful that we do NOT use the word in this sense.

10/8/ Definition of "Attribute"; A. Strong defines it like this: " those distinguishing characteristics of the divine nature which are inseparable from the Idea of God which constitutes the basis and ground for His various manifestations to His creatures.”

10/8/ In other words, attributes mean the essential qualities inherent In God's nature. a. They are more than "characteristics" because a characteristic may be either Inherent or acquired. b. An attribute of God, then, is the quality which is essentially an expression of the very being of God, 2. They are more than mere names or separate parts of a composite God. 3. When we have listed, all of the attributes of God – which is impossible - we STILL do NOT have ALL God is.

10/8/ We NEED to make the following distinction between "essence" and "attribute": 1. ESSENCE is what God IS - NATURAL "attributes". 2. ATTRIBUTES describe what God DOES in relation to man - MORAL "attributes". a. Strong; "The ESSENCE Is revealed, only through the attributes. Apart from its attributes, it is unknown and unknowable"

10/8/ b. God does what He does because of Who He Is. c. The "moral attributes" can belong in a limited sense, to the Christian, but with God they are absolute and unchanging; He possesses them to an Infinite degree. d. For this reason, we can be assured that our Father will remain eternally the same in His essence (natural) and (moral) attributes.

10/8/ A. The eternal essence of God relates to time and space. 1. God is not contained in space, and He is above the limitations of time. He is without beginning, and without end, and without succession of moments. 2. Many attempts have been made to illustrate how "long” eternity is.

10/8/ a. The use of the word "long" is improper when applied to eternity because it suggests measure. Eternity is not measurable; neither is it fully comprehensible by the human mind. This is true because we have nothing to compare it with. b. Our life is lived by the clock in minutes, hours, weeks, days, etc. God is not limited or contained by time. He established time in eternity for His creation.

10/8/ c. Someone once said; "Time is only a parenthesis in eternity " ETERNITY (Time) ETERNITY This is a simple definition, but it serves to Illustrate, in some small way, that which in the final analysis is un illustratable. 3. The best definition of eternity: "that which is without beginning or end". Notice these passages on the eternity of God: Psalm 90:2; 103:27; Deuteronomy 32::40; Isaiah 41:4; 44:6; Jude 25.

10/8/ This may be more readily understood if we remember that time has no existence in and by itself and is but an inseparable accompaniment of created existence.

10/8/ When Moses was called by God to deliver the children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt, he asked a question. "Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, the God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His name? What shall I say unto them?

10/8/ And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, This you shall say unto the children of Israel, I AM has sent me unto you." (Exodus 3:13, 14.)

10/8/ Later, God explained to Moses, "And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name YHWH was I not known to them." (Exodus 6:3.) It seems clear that the expression, I AM, is intended to indicate the meaning of the word YHWH since both expressions are from the same Hebrew root. YHWH, then, means "the existing one" or "the one who is”, or "I will be whom I will be" or "the becoming one"

10/8/ YHWH -tetragramaton = YAHWEH (adonia / eloihim = Jehovah 16 century) The word clearly implies the eternity of God. God has always been, and He always will be. He is without beginning and without end.

10/8/ It is often asked, "Where did God come from?” The answer is that He didn't come from anywhere. He has always been. Accustomed as we are to measuring everything in terms of time and place, this is very difficult to understand. It is but one expression of the fact that God is unlimited.

10/8/ To the woman at the well Jesus said, "God is a-Spirit." What is a spirit? A spirit is not matter as human beings are. After His resurrection Jesus said to His disciples, "Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." (Luke 24:39.)

10/8/ To describe a spirit in terms of material things is impossible. Since we have never seen a spirit we cannot fully appreciate the nature of one. "No man hath seen God at any time.“ ( John 1:18.) However, as we learn some of the other characteristics of God's nature we also learn some additional things regarding His spiritual qualities.

10/8/ There is but one God. We read in Deuteronomy 6:4, "Hear, 0 Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord." Here as in most other places in the King James Version the word "Jehovah" is rendered "Lord".

10/8/ Jehovah is a more accurate translation, than adonia and the American Standard Version gives this, "Hear, 0 Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah." A better translation would be "Hear, 0 Israel: YHWH our God is one YHWH." Again we read, "The Lord, He is God; there is none else beside Him." (Deuteronomy 4:35)

10/8/ Nevertheless, there are three persons in the Godhead--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The fullness of God dwells in each of these. We read of Christ, the Son, "For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." (Colossians 2:9.)

10/8/ The term "God" is applied' to each of the three, the word "God" being not a proper name but an expression of deity. The idea of a plurality of persons in one is expressed in the first verse of the Bible. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." (Genesis 1:1.)

10/8/ In the original Hebrew the subject is plural, the verb singular, or, in other words, a plurality in one. Again, YAHWEH expressed the same thought when He said, "Let us make man in our image." (Genesis 1:26.)

10/8/ There are two extremes of teaching regarding this characteristic of God. One is tritheism or the teaching of three Gods. This contradicts the many passages affirming the unity of God.

10/8/ The other is expressed in the so-called "Jesus Only" theory. This theory denies the plurality of persons in the Godhead. The fallacy of this teaching is seen in those passages which teach that the Son is today at the right hand of God. (See I Peter 3:22; Colossians 3:1.) If God is but one personality He could not be at His own right hand.

10/8/ Furthermore, in John 17 the Son prays to the Father. This necessitates more than one personality in God. Yet in this prayer the unity of God is affirmed when Jesus prays "that they may be one; as thou, Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in US." (John 17:21.) Because it is difficult for us to understand we may need to accept by faith the fact that there are three, personalities in one God.