Who is God?

This article will appear in the August 11th edition of the Justin Texan.

This installment attempts to briefly deal with an issue that entire libraries have unsuccessfully attempted to address. Who is God? The great writer and pastor of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, A.W. Tozer once wrote, “The most important thing about you is what you think about God.” Considering what the Bible says about the sin of idolatry, it can determine your eternal destiny in Heaven or Hell. Galatians 5:20 teaches that idolaters will not inherit the kingdom of God. If you are worshipping a false conception of God, praying to a god who does not exist except as a figment in your own imagination, then your soul is in real danger on the day of judgment. This is why it is so important to get our information about God from the right source: the Bible.

What do we know about Him from the Scriptures? We know that He is Creator. The very first verse of the Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Genesis 1-2 goes on to explain that He did so by speaking the world into existence in six twenty-four hour days. This creation took no effort on His part. He simply willed light, land, water, plants, and animals to be and they existed! Such power is unimaginable humanly speaking.

But His role as Creator goes even further. His is a universe-sustaining power. Colossians 1:18 states that in Christ all things consist (by the way, Jesus is God). In other words, the only reason this universe holds together, why atoms hold together, is because the Lord Himself holds it all together. Some Bible scholars believe that when these heavens and earth are recreated, the present ones will “dissolve in fervent heat” (2 Pet. 2:10) simply because the Lord will remove His presence from the elements!

Even more astonishing, this sustaining power extends to your very physical life. Acts 17:25 and 28 reveal that God gives life and breath to all things. It says that in Him we live and move and have our being! The only reason your heart beats today, the only reason why your lungs draw breath, the only reason your brain emits waves is because God allows it in His good pleasure. No wonder the writer of Hebrews wrote that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God (Heb. 10:31). Know it or not, you have already fallen into His hands.

In His mercy, He gives you what you do not deserve: life. The Bible says that the soul that sins shall die (Ezek. 18:4). How many sins have you committed in your life? How many lies have you told? How many times have you loved yourself more than God? How many times have you had a lustful thought? How many times have you blasphemed this God who created the universe, sustains it, and holds your life in His hands? Yet, you live! Why? Simply because God is rich in mercy and has given you an opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel.

My friends and neighbors, you can have peace with this great and mighty God. That peace comes only through what Christ has done. God in the flesh, this God-man, offered Himself up as a sacrifice on the behalf of sinners. He took on Himself the sins of all those who are His so that you could be declared right before God (2 Cor. 5:21). Turn from your sins and cast yourself on the mercy of Christ. For more, please visit http://www.yougotourtract.com/.

Jon Speed is co-founder of The Lost Cause Ministries, an evangelism ministry based here in Justin, TX. He is a member of First Baptist Church of Briar. He can be reached at jon@lostcauseministries.com.