May 10, 2023
By Elijah McSwain, Sr.
To begin with many people question the conceptualization of God. They pose questions like:
Is there a God?
How do we know that God exist?
Where does God come from?
Who made God?
Why does God let bad things happen?
Is God really eternal?
A variety of other thought-provoking questions about God are raised as people attempt to understand Him better or use these questions as a basis to challenge the validity of God.
Many people arrive at various or diverse conclusions based on their own intellectual thought process, background, circles of influence, or even their inability to rationalize how God has revealed Himself. In a world of diversity that is predicated on a diversity of looks, a diversity of speech, a diversity of thoughts, a diversity in culture and so forth, there is sure to be a difference in opinion as it relates to the singularity or plurality of gods that are said to exist or have existed in the world.
Across the geographically landscape, among different societies, many people hold different views about deities or divine beings. In the ancient world many people believed in a wide range of gods from Atum (Sun god), Set (god of darkness), Anbus (god of the dead), Poseidon (god of the sea), Hercules (demi-god with superhuman strength), Pan (god of the wild and hunters), and many other man-made gods. However, among the Christian nation of God’s elect, we hold to a monotheistic view that there is only one God, the true God of heaven and earth.
There Is Only One God
The Bible reveals that there is only one, living and true God.
In order, to make the declaration that God alone is the true and living God, the insinuation is made that anything else that is ascribed with any godlike attribute or given deity is false. False gods are the works of men's hands or the figment of their imagination and fabrication. It is worthy to note that false deities are unproductive in their actions, power, incapable of intervening into a person’s situation, incapable of hearing, incapable of speaking, incapable of providing resolve, not able to permit eternal salvation, and unable to provide rescue, among various other things in life. Bear this in mind, these gods are only ascribed power that is derived from the limited human mind. In reality, the fabricator of false gods have more power than the false deities themselves because the power bestowed unto false gods are given or determined by their human creator. The notion of this indicates that their power rest solely upon what has been ascribed unto them in nature, form, power, and divine status from the mind of the inventor or crafter of such images or illusions of the human mind.
In direct opposition to false deities, God is not a figment of imagination. He is not a product of human invention. He is not a product of human thinking. He is not a god crafted by the hands of men. He is not an illusion or myth of the mind. However, He has always existed of Himself and He cannot be subject to the will of humanity since His origin was not derived from among humanity. His existence does not depend upon the intellectual capacity of mankind. The biblical record of Scripture indicates that God predates time as He is as old as eternity. He has always been and He will always be since He has no beginning or end.
Yahweh is the true and living God that subsists outside the realm of human development. Jeremiah 10:3-11 pens the origination of man-made gods by the declaration “for the customs of the peoples are futile; for one cuts a tree from the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple. They are upright, like a palm tree, and they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot go by themselves. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor can they do any good.” Inasmuch as there is none like You, O LORD. (You are great, and Your name is great in might), who would not fear You, O King of the nations? For this is Your rightful due. For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You. But they are altogether dull-hearted and foolish; a wooden idol is a worthless doctrine. Silver is beaten into plates; it is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the metalsmith; blue and purple are their clothing; they are all the work of skillful men. But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth will tremble, and the nations will not be able to endure His indignation. Thus you shall say to them: “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.”
Psalm 115:1-8 also is indicative of Jeremiah 10:3-11, by the written composition of the true God in comparison to man-made gods. The verse is written, “(not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but to Your name give glory, because of Your mercy, Because of Your truth. Why should the Gentiles say, “So where is their God?” But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; eyes they have, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear; noses they have, but they do not smell; they have hands, but they do not handle; feet they have, but they do not walk; nor do they mutter through their throat. Those who make them are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them."
However, for Christians, our God is real. He is actively present in our human affairs. He is sovereign over all. He communicates with us through answered prayers as well as the revelation of His Word that provides guidance. He provides comfort during trying times. He gives emotional, mental, and physical strength in times of despair. He is a refuge in times of calamity. He grants deliverance from tumultuous situations and circumstances. He demonstrates protection and safekeeping in times of danger as well as so many other things as our great God and King. There is no so called deity that can be compared unto the true God of heaven and earth.
Isaiah 46:5-9 sums it up by saying, “to whom will you liken Me, and make Me equal and compare Me, that we should be alike? They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver on the scales; they hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god; they prostrate themselves, yes, they worship. They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it and set it in its place, and it stands; from its place it shall not move. Though one cries out to it, yet it cannot answer nor save him out of his trouble. Remember this, and show yourselves men; recall to mind, O you transgressors. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me.”
God Is Infinite And Intelligent
God in His essence is infinite and intelligent. “To be infinite is to be without limits. Where there’s a limit there’s finiteness. Being truly infinite, God knows no restrictions of space, ability, or power.”2 God is not affected by the elements of time, space, matter, or how humanity perceives Him to be. He is limitless and does what He please. Our God sits exalted in heaven and elects to do as He pleases without limitations (Psalm 115:3).
A person’s human comprehension or lack thereof about God does not have any bearing on God being God. God does not depend on humanity for His very own existence.
Therefore, the limitations of the human mind does not restrict God from being God. It is worth noting that the finite human mind cannot completely comprehend God in the totality of His infinite being. This is to be understood that we cannot measure the depth of God by any means in our human reasoning or logic. The depth of God is too vast for the human mind to comprehend or grasp fully. Psalm 145:3 alludes to the reality that “great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable."
Warren Wiersbe once stated that “God is so great that the human mind cannot fathom Him, but the human heart can love Him and tell others how great He is. God’s character and God’s awesome works furnish us with more material than we could ever exhaust, and we will have all of eternity to keep learning more!”3
The partial knowledge that we have of God is more than enough for us to attempt to comprehend. The core of what is written in Scripture will never be completely understood by us as the Word of God has many in-depth dimensions of biblical truth. However, this does not mean that we should give up on trying to get to know God as much as humanly possible.
As applied to God, the terminology of being infinite denotes His immeasurability while intelligent entails of His all-knowing attribute, wisdom, counsel, and many other attributes. His infinite power can be seen in His ability to bestow Himself unto all believers.
AW Tozer affirmed it this way, “an infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others.”1
God imparts Himself fully to every person who exercises faith in Him through the personage of Jesus Christ. The impartation of God upon the believer by the agent of the Holy Spirit is a result of saving faith. This action is demonstrated in Acts 2:38 where Peter said, “repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” God is able to impart Himself to millions or even billions of people that have believed in Him in the past, in the present, and those who will believe in the future. For some, this is mind-boggling to the human mind. However, God cannot be confined to the limitations of the human mind as aforementioned.
God is infinite in His power and understanding. The ways and the being of God are immeasurable. The psalmist declared in Psalm 147:5, “great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.” Romans 11:33-34 implies the sentiment of the immeasurability of God by being penned as, “oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?” Another biblical passage that refers to God in the same way is Isaiah 55:8-9, “for My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
The Life Application Study Bible mentions that “the knowledge and wisdom of God are far greater than the knowledge and wisdom of any human being.”4
It is naïve to believe that God can be fit into our mold of thinking and purposes. Hence, with this in view, as mere human beings, we must align our thinking capacity and our ways of life into the purpose and plan of God. As believers our frame of thinking should align with the mandate, statutes, percepts, and ways of God. The Bible should be the window that we view to shape our worldview.
In totality, the ways of God are beyond the full comprehension of mankind; yet that should not derail us from following Him as He has left behind a written platform of guidance, the Bible, as the premise to help steer us in the right direction that is tailored after His own intellect and mind as a revelatory means of who He is.
References
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/aiden_wilson_tozer_153975
Wiersbe Study Bible
The Life Application Study