Our Infinitely Great God Series

Knowing God Series #2

“Our Infinitely Great God”

Introduction

Proverbs clearly declares that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. If you want more wisdom and understanding you MUST give attention to knowing God. Just like any relationship, knowing God takes time and energy and intention. It doesn’t just happen. The Bible identified the secret of success for many people of the Bible by this phrase: “They set their heart to seek the Lord”. That means that they made a conscious decision to get to know God better. Perhaps this might be a theme verse for our series on knowing God better.

Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually! Psalm 105:1-4 (ESV)

DISCLAIMER

First I do not claim to be where I want to be but aspire to where I could be.

Second, I am fully aware that I am attempting to explain the unexplainable, to comprehend the incomprehensible; to engage the infinite.

God is a self-reveling God who not only wants us to know Him but to asks us to seek Him.

God has imbedded knowledge of Himself in every creature made in His image – His signature.

God reveals Himself in what He has made.

God reveals Himself through the Holy Spirit inspired written word.

God revealed Himself through Jesus the Living Word.

Knowledge not only engages the intellect and captivates the senses but involves spiritual senses.

We worship (responds to revelations) in spirit and truth. (Intellect / Spirit)

I. The nature of God

A. God is Spirit

In opposition to the views of materialism, we understand that the Godhead is in essence spirit. He is not limited by physical constraints. Jesus took on flesh and physical attributes only at the incarnation to help us better understand the invisible and ourselves. Technically, we are both material and immaterial. There is a part of us that can be distinguished by the five senses.

There is another part of us that cannot be perceived by the 5 senses. When you die, the physical body rots but and the immaterial part called the soul/spirit rises as a distinct everlasting individual consciousness. God’s true essence is discerned and perceived on a spirit level even though His activity may be observed and contemplated on a material level.

B. God is personal

God is a person, not a force or an impersonal influence. That includes the Holy Spirit.

C. God is a Triunity (three in one)

We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit. Athaniasian Creed (year 318)

D. God is infinite

Novatian wrote this, “At the contemplation and utterance of His majesty all eloquence is rightly dumb, all mental effort is feeble. For God is greater than mind itself. His greatness cannot be conceived. Nay, could we conceive of His greatness He would be less than the human mind which could from the conception. He is greater than all language, and no statement can express Him. Indeed, if any statement could express Him, He would be less than human speech which could by such statement comprehend and gather up all that He is. All our thoughts about Him will be less than He, and our loftiest utterances will be trivialities in comparison with Him.”

This is true of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The Godhead is infinitely infinite. He exists without limits, without boundaries, without measure of any kind.

Current culture uses the word infinite improperly. “Infinite patience” “Unlimited resources”

“Boundless energy” “Measureless sea”

Rightly this term finds its highest application in regard to God alone. God alone defies measurement. There are no rulers big enough to measure infinity. Measurement is the way we attempt to explain and analyze our world. God defies measurement because He is infinite. God is without measure growth or development. He will never be less than He is. He will never be more than He is. He is what He is in Himself beyond all manner of human explanation.

Anytime we think we have Him figured out, we end up with a mere image of the real thing an idol fabricated in the mind. All the books and literature that have ever been written and all the teaching that has ever been taught and all the thoughts that have ever been thought from the beginning of time until now could not begin to adequately explain the true nature of God.