Who Is God? Comprehending An Infinite Creator Series

We were building a foundation in the previous messages. The foundation of the structure is truth, that we can know truth, and make use of knowledge and information to understand reality. Secondly, the next layer on top of truth was science. Given that we can know truth, we can certainly know science, and through science, reason that a God who made the universe is in fact logical, and given our universe’s harmony and the earth’s ability to sustain life in such a delicate balance, it is quite reasonable to believe. Next we talked about history, given that science supports the existence of God, we looked at the biblical documents and recorded history, seeing that we can in fact trust the Bible as the word of God, given manuscript authority, historical accuracy, and a demonstration of supernatural facts in the Bible, like the fulfilled prophecies of Christ’s coming.

So now today we’re talking about Theology, which literally means, the study of God. I think it’s important that we understand though that we’re not self-referencing the Bible to itself. The Bible is the word of God, because the Bible says it’s the word of God, is a fallacious argument. But, we can reasonably say that science supports the existence of God, the Bible is historically and archaeologically accurate, and the Bible has demonstrated a supernatural ability to predict future events. One can also reason from the growth of Christianity, the personal witness of 2.1 billion Christians who testify to the divinity of Jesus, and the eye witness accounts in the scriptures that say that they saw Jesus alive after his crucifixion. All of this makes a cumulative case that the Bible is the word of God, and Jesus Christ is a Living savior.

So we ask today: Who is God? First, let’s look at what the Salvation Army doctrines say about God:

•2. We believe that there is only one God, who is infinitely perfect, the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things, and who is the only proper object of religious worship.

•3. We believe that there are three persons in the Godhead - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, undivided in essence and co-equal in power and glory.

God created all things. God preserves all things, meaning he literally holds reality together, and God is also the governor of all, he’s sovereignly in charge of reality. This infers our moral accountability to Him. And we also see that God’s nature is fundamentally triune. God is Father, God is Son, and God is Holy Spirit. Yet He is One God, not three. One God. And he is infinitely perfect, a statement indicating a transcendent perfection that goes beyond our natural understanding.

Next we’ll take a quick look at a section of a famous confession of faith made in 1646, called the Westminster Confession:

"There is but one only,[1] living, and true God,[2] who is infinite in being and perfection,[3] a most pure spirit,[4] invisible,[5] without body, parts,[6] or passions;[7] immutable,[8] immense,[9] eternal,[10] incomprehensible,[11] almighty,[12] most wise,[13] most holy,[14] most free,[15] most absolute;[16] working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will,[17] for His own glory;[18] most loving,[19] gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin;[20] the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him;[21] and withal, most just, and terrible in His judgments,[22] hating all sin,[23] and who will by no means clear the guilty."[24]

-excerpt from “Of God and the Holy Trinity.”

This is a classic reformed statement regarding who God is. Each of the numbers in the statement reference a different scripture verse. This is actually only 1/3 of their “Of God and the Holy Trinity” statement. But I thought it would be fun to read over some of it.

We are truly exploring a wonderful question, and what’s amazing and shocking about the search for God is that when we search after Him, He responds and comes close to us. It send shivers up my spine to think of it actually. I've studied many subjects, but to study God is to feel his presence in the room with you.

Often times what God says about himself is phrased as a question, not all the time, but many times. Just as in our scripture today the first verses were, “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” God gave those words to Isaiah, probably directly into his mind, and Isaiah wrote them down. What an elegant way to address the question!

"Who is God?" Well, a good response is, "To whom could we compare God?" And essentially that is the best we can do. God is infinite, eternal, and all powerful. Those are three realities we simply cannot understand. We are linear as humans, we exist at a single point in time, able to reflect backwards and forwards, but we can’t see eternity. We just can’t. We can hardly comprehend what the word means. Which is why many skeptics will ask, well if God created the universe, who created God? And its just like… what do you mean? If God could be created by something else, he wouldn’t be God. The thing that created Him would have to be God, which then becomes an infinite regression, a fallacy of logic. But that’s how many think; in human terms. But ultimately there has to be something at the very beginning, with no beginning and no end. Many thought maybe it was the universe, but scientists today know that the universe had a beginning. That leaves, God, who must be infinite. Which we can’t understand. Which is tough.