GOD IS OMNISCIENT

Of the two words making up the word 'omniscient', we have 'omni' which means "all", and the word 'sciens' which refers to knowing, and also gives us our word in English for 'science'. By putting these two words together we have the word 'omniscient' meaning infinite knowledge, or knowing all things. This can only refer to God, as He only knows all things. He alone possesses perfect knowledge and therefore has no need to learn.

To give some understanding to our Almighty God, we can give the negatives approach by saying what He is not. In the case of omniscience, we would say God has never learned, and He cannot learn. In other attributes, we can say He suffers no change, He cannot lie, He had no beginning, He needs no help, He has no limitations.

God knows all: all thoughts, all creatures, all secrets, all things visible and invisible in heaven and earth. He knows no one thing better than another, but all things equally.

This all knowing, Almighty God, knew each one of us before He created time. He knows all about each of us, our thoughts, our secrets, our infirmities. He is never surprised or amazed.

This fact that God knows each one through and through should cause man to fear God, since He knows all our hidden sins and thoughts. David stated "whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?...If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day." (Psalm 139:7,11,12)

Our Father in heaven knows our frame that it is dust. Jesus took on a human body, and felt the same pain and sorrow we do. His knowledge of us is even more than the fact that He is all knowing, He actually has experienced it and has compassion. Whatever comes our way, or happens to us, God knows all about it and cares for each of us as no one else can.

1. Websters New World Dictionary
2. The Holy Bible
3. The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W.Tozer
4. From the heart of CC

GOD IS OMNIPOTENT

The word Omnipotent means 'having all power'. The word is derived from the Latin words of 'Omni' meaning 'all', and 'potens' meaning 'power'. This word is identical in its meaning with the more common word of 'Almighty'. If one likes statistics, it is interesting to find that this word 'almighty' occurs fifty-six times in the English Bible and only does refer to God. He alone is Almighty, Omnipotent. In Revelation 4:6 John says "Alleluia! For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."

Omnipotence is not a name given to the sum of all power, but it is an attribute of a very personal God, and a God who is infinite. Whatever He does is without limit; therefore He has limitless power, He is 'omnipotent'. He has no less power at one time than at another time; He is 'all power' all of the time.

With God having all power, He created this world and everything in it by speaking it into existence. In Psalm 33:6 it states that all came into being by the 'breath of His mouth'; just a mere thought or sigh. Paul states in Romans 1:20 that nature itself gives evidence of the eternal power of God.

This is the God we worship and this is the God who with all His power, with all His creation, is mindful of me, of you; and cares for each one of us with love, compassion and mercy. This is the God who provided a way for our salvation that we will be able to spend all of eternity with Him as His child. Thank you, Almighty Father, You are so good!

1. The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W.Tozer
2. The Holy Bible
3. The Attribute of God/ online
4. The heart of CC

GOD IS 'HOLY'

Divine holiness stands apart. It is unique, unapproachable, unattainable, and even beyond our understanding. Holy is the way God is. He is pure, with absolute moral perfection. And because He is Holy, all of His attributes are Holy.

We cannot appreciate the holiness of God by putting it to any comparisons that we know. It is simply beyond us as mere man, incomprehensible to our finite minds. Only through the Spirit of the Holy One Himself can we be given a glimpse of His holiness.

Psalm 145:17 says: "The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works." The holiness of God is directly related to His righteousness and completely separate from evil. In I Samuel 2:2 it says: "There is none holy as the Lord; for there is no one beside thee; neither is there any rock like our God." In Leviticus 11:45 and in I peter 1:16 it tells us that we shall be holy for God is holy.

In Isaiah 6, Isaiah had a vision of seeing the Lord sitting upon His throne with the seraphim crying to one another: "holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts." Isaiah suddenly realized his personal depravity and cried out "woe is me! for I am undone!...for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." After Job saw the Lord with his spiritual eyes (Job 42:5) he states in verse 6: "I loathe and abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes."

When we see ourselves as God does, we know that we are not holy, and can never be holy as God is; yet He will never tell us to do something we are unable to do. When we receive Jesus Christ, we receive all that God is, and we know we can trust the Holy Spirit to enable us to be holy. We are put right with God, and Christ is our holiness.

Holy, holy holy! Lord God Almighty!

All Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth and sky and sea.

Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!

God in three persons, blessed Trinity! Amen

by Reginal Heber

1. The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W.Tozer

2. The Holy Bible

3. The Attributes of God (online)

4. The heart of CC

GOD IS 'JUST'

"He is the Rock. His work is perfect, for all His ways are law and justice. A God of faithfulness without breach or deviation, just and right is He."
(Deuteronomy 31:4)

According to A.W.Tozer, in the Scriptures Justice and Righteousness are almost synonymous; they can scarcely be distinguished from each other. He is righteous in all His ways; He is Holy and cannot tolerate sin. The just penalty for sin according to Romans 6:23 is 'death'.

God, who is just and righteous, could not spare the sinner; yet in His goodness He can still justify the sinner. This is done through the work of Christ on the Cross. The penalty for sin was paid when Christ became our substitute. Now when a sinner casts himself on Christ for salvation, justice is done and the sinner is made Just by a Just God.

But if one does not accept Christ as His substitute, God's justice still stands against the sinner. He is Just and He has provided a substitute for our death penalty. We dare not ignore this.

His Justice needed to be satisfied, but He took care of it for all who will believe and accept.

Prayer: "We live, O Lord, because thou art just and merciful. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, righteous in all Thy ways and Holy in all thy works. Amen"

1. The Holy Bible (Amplified Version)
2. The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W.Tozer
3. The heart of CC

GOD IS 'IMMUTABLE'

According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, the word "Immutable" means 'not capable of or susceptible to change'. However, all of creation is forever changing; it is impossible to escape this fact. The mountains with snowy tops in winter, lose this in summer as rivers melt down their sides, taking with it dirt and causing erosion, thus constantly changing the mountain. The ocean gives up water as the sun draws from it, forming storm clouds in the heavens. Man especially is in change as his body goes from youth to old age in a matter of a few years. Man will move from worse to better, or even better to worse; he can go from immature to mature.

All of creation is in constant change, but God remains the same. He is incapable of change; He is perfect and has always been perfect. He is Holy and has never been any less Holy. God is not a substance as we are, but a spirit--pure, essential, and ethereal Spirit--and therefore He is immutable.

Since God never changes, His Attributes never change. What He was in the beginning, He is just the same now. He is unchanged in His love, in His Faithfulness, in His power, in His Justice. Malachi 3:6 states: "I am the Lord; I change not..."

If there is any change in our relationship with God, it is on our part, not God's. God Himself is outside of mutation and thereby unaffected by any of the changes occurring in our world. Charles Wesley stated:

"And all things as they change proclaim

The Lord eternally the same."

This should bring peace to our hearts, as we know we can come to our God at any time and know He is always receptive to our needs. His attitude toward sin is the same as it was when He drove Adam and Eve from the Garden; and His attitude toward sinful man has never changed as He reaches out to him and says "come unto me..."

1. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
2. Sermons by Charles Spurgeon
3. The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W.Tozer
4. The Heart of CC

GOD IS 'FAITHFUL'

We have been considering God's Attributes these past few weeks as we seek to have a small understanding of 'Who God Is'. As we consider each Attribute separately, we must keep in mind these are not separate qualities of God, but merely facets of His Unitary Whole.

God, being self-existent, is also self-sufficient, and being infinite, He must be ALL of each of His Attributes. Therefore, He is not just part love, part power, or part Faithful, but He is ALL of each one. He is ALL Faithful and He never changes, so therefore He cannot be unfaithful--Ever! It is God's Faithfulness that saves us, and it is His Faithfulness that keeps us. Galatians 2:20 in the King James Version states: "...and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God..." I believe this is the proper translation, and it shows that our salvation is sure because He is Faithful.

It is only by having complete assurance in His Faithfulness that we can have 'peace' when we come to a bend in the road, or the way becomes rocky, or storm clouds blow into our lives. And it is only by having assurance in His Faithfulness that we can look forward to the life to come.

The Old Testament talks about the Faithfulness of God in Deuteronomy 7:9: "Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments." And In Psalm 92:1,2 we read: "It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your Faithfulness every night."

Our Lord who was Faithful to His Heavenly Father while on earth, is now Faithful to us; so we can press on with assurance in His Faithfulness for years and centuries to come.

Isaac Watts wrote a poem showing that God's Faithfulness will never fail:

"Happy the man whose hopes rely

On Israel's God; He made the sky,

And earth and seas, with all their train;

His truth forever stands secure.

He saves the oppressed; He feeds the poor,

And none shall find His promise vain."

1. The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W.Tozer
2. The Holy Bible
3. The heart of CC

GOD IS 'LOVE'

When we say 'God is Love' this is not giving a definition of God. To say, 'God is Love' means that this is an Attribute of God, a fact about Him just as the facts that He is Good, Holy and Faithful. His love had no beginning and will have no end. He loves as much at one moment as He does another, because as God He does not change. Because He is God and without limits, His love has no limits.

We cannot really define 'Love', but we know about love by how it is revealed to the one that is loved. I Corinthians 13 is a chapter from the Bible given entirely to an attempt to define 'love'. Specifically: Love is patient, love is kind; not envious, not boastful or haughty; love is not self-seeking or resentful. Love never fails. Love is uncaused and undeserved.

Love shows itself by how it takes pleasure in what is loved, and God enjoys and loves us as His own creation. John 3:16 states that God loved us so much that He gave His only begotten Son to die for us. And here is a wonderful thing about God's love: when we become His children, nothing can separate us from that love. Paul states in Romans 8:38 and 39 (from the Amplified Version):

"For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life,

nor angels, nor principalities, nor things impending or threatening;

nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth,

nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us

from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

There is so much to learn about God's Love; it is so vast and we can never understand it, any more than we can understand God. Ephesians 2:4-5 gives a small view of how God expresses His love to us:

"But God--so rich in His mercy! Because of and in order to

satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us,

Even when we were dead (slain) by (our own) shortcomings

and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union

with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same

new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace

(His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved

(delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation).

The love of God is measureless, and we cannot be separated from it! Praise God!

1. From the Holy Bible (Amplified)

2. The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W.Tozer

3. The heart of CC