Tom Kirkpatrick

Sermon Transcript

September 24, 2001

Who Is God?

What is light? Define light. We all know what light is, but define it. Oh, if we thought of it, we might come up with something. It's the absence of dark, but what is light? We all know it, but it is sometimes very difficult to formally define something without using...you know, it's light. You say, to the little kid, you know, it's light. It's like, it's light during the day. Well, what is light?

The most intuitive is sometimes the most difficult to really describe. What is good? Define good. And we could go on with other examples.

Well, today, I want to go through the scriptures with you, some of them, because there are too many to cover, even in the longest sermon, and answer the question from the scriptures, what or who, better yet, who is God?

Now of all things that we should be familiar with, and we should be able to define or describe, God would probably be the most important, and yet, brethren, consider this: not too many years ago, an attempt, and I'm sad to say, a very successful attempt in way too many cases, was made to redefine God to the people of God. In fact, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that one of the very most important reasons that you and I are in this room today, as opposed to another room, and why there aren't more here with us today than there used to be was because of a concerted attempt to redefine God. Am I right? A huge departure from that which we had been taught.

Well, if it is that easy to redefine God for people, maybe it means that we need to be very careful that we let the Bible define it for us, because what the Bible has doesn't change. And if we become sensitized to the Bible's definition of God - God's self-definition of Himself - then we could be, as I say, resensitized and our antenna can be up if anybody were ever to try to redefine God again.

Who is God? At the outset, I want to say that it will be impossible even in one whole day of talking about it to fully cover the subject. So, I'll give that disclaimer at the outset, but I believe we can get a very good grounding in God's self-definition in the scripture in our time together. So, I would ask you to really tune in, because this is very important. And I can tell you that one of the things that has been the most positive development in my opinion, one of the most welcome things, one of the most important things that has caused me the most joy, if that is the right expression, or the most gratitude, is in recent weeks, the United Church of God has published this booklet, which actually has the same title as my sermon, Who is God? I think this has been much needed for six years, and I am thrilled that we have now been privileged to publish this, and it's now being distributed, and all of you should have your copy of it. I'll make occasional reference to this booklet. In my opinion, it's the most important piece of literature that we have published, or it certainly ranks up there with the two or three most important pieces of literature that we've published in our short existence.

Well, I'm going to start off with the easy stuff. And then, we may graduate to that which is a little more difficult. Who is God?

First point, God is a spirit. Now already, we have difficulties, because you and I are not spirit, but we have to take God's self-disclosure on His terms. Now, let's go to John 4:24. This is Jesus giving an answer to the rhetorical question of the sermon title - Who is God? So, if anybody would know, wouldn't it be Jesus Christ? We'll actually begin in John 4:23.

John 4:23 - Jesus said: The hour is coming, and now is. The time had come. At the time of His ministry, it had come, and it would be an ongoing reality that there would be people on the earth that would fit this description. The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship him.

Verse 24 - God is spirit, and those who worship him must in spirit and truth. If you're going to be able to answer the question: who is God, you must tap into a spiritual reality, not an intellectual one. You know, men from the time God put man on the earth have come up with their ideas of who or what God is, but even the highest I..Q. is not sufficient to adequately define God because it must be according to spirit. That is spiritual revelation and truth, and you are holding truths in your laps. Thy word is truth. If it is not according to thy word, it's not truth, because thy word is truth. So, God is spirit, and those who will know Him, and be able to answer the question: Who is God, will have to have spiritual perception, which is not a function of I. Q. or intellectual activity, and they must have their understanding harmonize with what's in the book on your lap, because this is God's self-revelation. Thy word is truth. So, that's point one about what God is. He's spirit.

So, it really doesn't matter what makes sense to the human logical mind. That isn't the determining factor. It is what is spiritually revealed, and what is in this book, and the God spirit gives understanding of what is in this book. The man had it right, who said, this is a coded book. It's been the most published, most..., most distributed book in all of history, so it's a public document, if ever there was one, but it takes spiritual decoding to get truth out of this book of truth. It must be spiritually deciphered for us.

Point number two: Who is God? God is omnipotent. He is all powerful. Daniel 4:35.

Daniel 4:35 - God is omnipotent; Omni, meaning all; potent, meaning power. He is all power. So, it's important to be able to answer the question: Who is God, because this God has all power. Daniel 4:35 - It says, All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and He does according to His will, God does, in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay His hand, and say, "What are you doing?" Not all of the combined forces of all the humans who have ever lived, their intellectual, moral, military, physical might, all put together can stop God from accomplishing His will, or stand up against His power. That same point, that God is omnipotent, and all mankind put together, to the contrary withstanding, doesn't stand up to God's power, is made in Isaiah 40. It's quite a remarkable passage. It's God sort of telling creation, "Let's understand reality of who I am, compared to who you are." God talks like this to His creation, and it's good for the creation to listen.

So, let's turn over there, to Isaiah 40. This point, God is omnipotent; He is spirit, and He is all power, the source of all power.

Isaiah 40:15 - Behold the nations are a drop in a bucket. So, you imagine a bucket, with one drop in it. It looks like a dry bucket, doesn't it. It looks like an empty bucket. One drop is nothing compared to the size and the volume of a bucket. There's a drop in a bucket, or even a metaphor that gives a greater sense of it, and they are counted as the small dust on the balance. You have these scales on either side of a balance, and there is nothing on them except a little tiny piece of dust. The scales don't tip either way. It doesn't even register on the scales - the dust that's on those pans. It's nothing, and they're counted as the small dust on the balance. Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.

Verse 16 - And Lebanon, the whole nation of Lebanon, is not sufficient to burn. Compared to God, and His scope, a whole nation, with all of its force, wouldn't be enough even to be kindling to start a fire. God is giving creation a sense of who's in charge, and where power emanates. All the beasts of Lebanon would not be sufficient for a burnt offering.

Verse 17 - All nations, He keeps raising the ante, not all the nations then, or throughout history, or today, six point two billion people, all together, all nations before Him are as nothing. So, I guess we get the point. And they are counted by Him as less than nothing, and worthless. And imagine, that mankind is going to come to the point, near the very end where the armies of the earth will actually gather together to fight God, and the presence of Christ when He returns to the earth in the presence of this reality. It just shows the deception that Satan can put into the minds, not only of individual men, but of all men combined.

Verse 18 - To whom, then will you liken God? Who is God? Well, He's one with such power that it's unimaginable. What likeness will you compare to Him?

Verse 19 - The workman molds a graven image. People try to reduce God down to something, because they don't have spiritual insight, and they are not doing it according to truth, so they try to understand God by things they can make. I mean, it's ludicrous, and God describes this. The goldsmith (second half of verse 19) overspreads it with gold, and the silversmith casts silver chains,

Verse 20 - Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution chooses a tree that will not rot. So, people make things to help them get closer in their minds to understanding God, or representing God. God says it's folly. I can't be represented by such small things. To prepare a carved image that will not totter.

Verse 21 - Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

Verse 22 - It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

Verse 23 - He brings the princes to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth useless. So, over and over again, in poetic language, God says I am the source of all power. You cannot oppose me.

Verse 24 - Scarcely shall they be planted, scarcely shall they be sown, scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth, when He will also blow on them, and they will wither, and the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.

Verse 25 - "To whom then will you liken Me, or to whom shall I be equal?" says the Holy One. Well, the answer out to be obvious by now - nothing. He is supreme. He is omnipotent. Nothing else compares.

Verse 26 - Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these things, who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name. The power to have individually named every one of the trillions of stars in the universe. What kind of a mind is that? What kind of power does that take? And the strength of His power; not one is missing. Well, we could go on and on in that passage. We'll complete it here with Isaiah 40:27, 28.

Verse 27 - Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel: " My way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God?"

Verse 28 - Have you not known. Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth neither faints, nor is weary. There is no searching of His understanding.

God has all power, against which everything else is nothing. Along those same lines, let's go back into Numbers 11 - Here's the case where the Israelite nation had been complaining, as they often did, grumbling, as they so often did, about not having something that they wanted. Well, what did they want? They wanted flesh to eat in the wilderness. God had provided them perfect food - manna from heaven, but they got tired of what God provided for them, and they complained to Moses, and Moses was at his wit's end. He went in turn, and complained to God, and said, "Why have you given me this unmanageable burden of having to lead these people, and all they do is complain, and they ask me to do what is impossible to provide them meat to eat out here in this wilderness.

And God said, "OK, I can handle that. I'll give them meat to eat."

And Moses, in one of his weaker moments, because he was all caught up in human reasoning, because he had been kind of infected by the mindset of those who were complaining to him, he kind of got caught up in that, and even though God said, "OK, I'll provide them meat."

Moses just went on in this mindset, and he said, "Oh, God, how could you do that? I mean, where are you going to get meat for all these people?" He actually said that; Moses, the man of God.

So, we come into the middle of the story, in Numbers 11:22. Here we see Moses in one of his exposed moments, showing his own humanity. If you've ever let yourself think of God as being diminished in power, contrary to what we've just read in Isaiah and Daniel, well, you're in pretty good company, because even Moses, this great servant of God allowed himself to lapse into this. These are the words of Moses - Numbers 11:22, sort of sarcastically:

Numbers 11:22 - Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them? Yeh, God, right, you're gonna give meat to all these thousands, hundreds of thousands. Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them? And look at God's answer.

Verse 23 - God was very patient. I mean, he could have zapped Moses right then, but He loved Moses, and He knew Moses had been caught up in a weaker moment, and so God says: And the Lord said to Moses, "Has the Lord's arm been shortened?" Do you think I'm weaker? Do you think I've lost my stuff? You know I'm the one who created all animals in the first place out of dust of the earth. Has my arm been shortened? I used to be able to reach out and provide and create living things. Meat on the hoof out of dust, but I guess you think I can't go that far anymore. Is that right, Moses? Is that what you think? My arm is now shortened. I'm not what I once was. "Now, you shall see whether My word will befall you or not." And obviously, He provided so much meat on the wing, in this case, that they got sick of it.

Genesis 18:14 - It's good to see what God says about the extent of His power to His people so we don't get caught up in the Israelite's attitude, or even Moses', in this case, attitude, of God having been diminished in our minds. Yeah, God used to be able to do these wonderful things, but He's lost His stuff.

Look at Genesis 18:14 - This is the case where Abraham and Sarah laughed at the promise of God, that a woman past menopause could give birth to a baby. God has lost...His arm has been shortened. He can't do that. God's answer: "Is anything too hard for the Eternal? At the appointed time I will return unto you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son." (and of course she denied then that she had laughed, because she got caught in it.)

God has all power; there is nothing too hard for God, and what He has promised, He not only can do, but He will do.

So, who is God? He is a spirit, and those who worship Him and want to know Him must do so with spiritual understanding that comes from the ability to get the meaning out of truth, which is God's word. Who is God? He is omnipotent.

Now, the next point about who is God is really related to the first one, but it is different. God is omnipresent. He's everywhere in the universe. Psalm 139. Who is God? He is everywhere. He is a being whose presence is everywhere at the same time in all of the universe.

Psalm 139:7 - The Psalmist says: Where can I go from Your spirit? Where is there that God isn't? Where can I flee from Your presence?

Verse 8 - If I ascend into heaven, You are there. If I make my bed in Hades, behold, You are there.

Verse 9 - If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea...well, Jonah found that out, didn't he? He thought he could hide from God by going out into the sea. God was there.

Verse 10 - Even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.

Verse 11 - If I say," The darkness shall fall on me." I'll hide in the dark.

Verse 12 - But the night shines as the day; (for God.) the darkness and the light are both alike to you. God is omnipresent. There is nowhere that God isn't. There's no way to hide from God.

Same point is made in Jeremiah 23. Who is God? He is a being who is everywhere, with all power, and He is a spirit. Over in Jeremiah 23 - God, Himself, talking again. This is the best way to get a definition of God, Himself, in the first person, talk about Himself.

Jeremiah 23:23 - "Am I a God near at hand," says the Lord," and not a God afar off?

Verse 24 - "Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him," says the Lord; "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" Those are all rhetorical questions to which the obvious answer is: yes. Yes, He does fill heaven and earth. He is, yes, a God near at hand, and not afar off.

So, we begin to see God's self-disclosure, being that He's a spirit; He's everywhere, with all power. What else is there about God?

Well, God, point 4, is eternal. Now, that's one of those, again, those words that we sort of know intuitively what it means, but can you really define it? Well, I wonder, because we don't have eternal minds. We have minds that have only been around forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty years, at the most, in this room. Some have only been around five or ten years. We haven't been around forever, and yet, we're asked, with those kinds of minds, to understand forever. Well, let's see what God reveals in His truth, and then let's just accept it. Thy word is truth. Those who worship God will do so in spirit, with spiritual understanding, according to truth. Well, what does truth say?

Isaiah 57 - We're starting off with a series of answers to, who is God, by what God is. Then, later we're going to look at what God does. So, if you know who somebody is, and what they do, you have a pretty good description of that person. So, we're still in the - what God is - part of the sermon. Well, He is eternal - means He's been around forever - is now, and will be around forever.

Isaiah 57:15 - Thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy. Now, how is anybody supposed to understand that? He inhabits eternity. He lives in eternity. Eternity is not limited by time and space. We are, except for that germ of eternal life which is given to those who have God's spirit, but otherwise, we do not inhabit eternity. We inhabit time and space. Eternity is not limited to time and space. Well, who can live there with Him? Who can understand such a concept? I think he answers it in the next part of this verse. He says, first of all, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy.

But I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit. The spiritual revelation of who God is, is limited to those who will humble themselves in His presence and accept His word, who will not argue with His word, and who will not elevate human reason above revealed spiritual truth. That's who inhabits eternity, or can understand the God of eternity of all power, of all presence, who is a spirit: those who are humble and of a contrite heart.

Psalm 90:2 - More on this same point...Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. Past eternity, future eternity, present. Always has been, is, always will be. Lives in eternity. Before there were things that define time and space. We define time and space by physical matter. God has lived before there was physical matter; will live after there is physical matter. At least, there's a new heaven and a new earth - I guess we could argue all day, is there going to be a physical component to that - I don't know, but, it says the elements of the earth will be burned up, and there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Suffices to say, God is not limited to time or space.

Romans 1:19 - That which may be known of God... Who is God? Well, we need to know about God. What can you know about God? That which may be known about God is manifest in them; for God has showed it to them.

Verse 20 - The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made. Now, this seems self-contradictory, but I want to talk to you about it, and it's not self-contradictory at all. He's saying, physical things that have not always been should teach us about this eternal being who has always been. How does that work? ...even His eternal power and Godhead. Well, think about it. If we see an earth which clearly had a beginning, how do we know it had a beginning? An elementary study of science, of physics, tells you that this earth, just like the entire universe that we see, is like a giant clock that is running down. It is running down. Entropy - the law of entropy: things are gradually running down in the universe to a state of nothingness. High school first science teaches you the core of this earth is hot. If it had always been (and it is gradually cooling,) the core of the earth would be a ball of ice. So, it hasn't always been. It started hot. If it had always been, it would be cold by now, because it is losing heat. So, it hasn't always been. All of the stars of heaven are just great furnaces of burning gas. They're burning up themselves. They're burning up their own fuel. That means they haven't always existed, because if they had always existed, they would have burned out by now. Something started them.

There had to be something that was before things that run down. So, from the physical creation, which is running down, we learn that there must have been a maker of the physical creation, who doesn't run down, who made the earth and started the clock going - who wound it up. The presence of non-eternal things demands a first cause that was eternal that made non-eternal things.

I Timothy 1:17 - Who is God? He's eternal. He's always been, is now, always will be.

To the King, eternal, immortal, invisible; to God, who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. Right there, in that one verse, it talks about eternity, immortality, forever and ever. One final verse on this point: Who is God? God is eternal. Back in John 5, Jesus' words again. Who better would know about God...who better to listen to about a description of God...who better to ask, who is God, than Jesus Christ?

John 5:26 - For as the Father has life in Himself, so has He granted the Son to have life in Himself... God has life in Himself: self-contained eternal life. Those are just words that wrap themselves around the notion that nobody gave life to God. If something else had given life to God; God would not be eternal. But He has, and is, inherent self-sufficient eternal life. Well, those are four answers to the question, who is God? He's spirit; He's omnipotent; He has all power; He's omnipresent; He's everywhere; He's eternal; He's always been.

The fifth answer to the question that I want to share with you today, maybe will scratch an itch that's still in the back of your mind as you think about these things, because, as absolute as these statements have been, there is still, like I say, probably an itch back there, way deep down that needs scratching, and this is going to be my best shot to reach it.

Who is God? He is inscrutable. Now that's a fancy word meaning there are parts of Him, aspects of Him, that you and I, in this life, with our minds, are not going to be able to understand. So, let it itch, because it probably is going to always itch. It'll be scratched on the other side of the resurrection. He is inscrutable. There are things about what God is, and what God does that are beyond our comprehension, because He is God, and we're not.

There is a great line in a movie that I watched not too long ago. I think it was the movie, "Rudy", about this little, undersized guy who was dying to play football for Notre Dame. His whole life revolved around that. He wanted to play football for Notre Dame so bad. Well, anyway, the plot goes a different direction, but there is this one point where he was all discouraged; he wasn't going to make the team, and it was a great issue of life to him. He was so depressed, and he went and he found a religious leader in his life, and he was just pouring out his soul and all these cosmic questions, and the aged, wise religious leader in his life listened patiently, and he said, "Rudy, there's a couple of things I've learned. I've been in this business, you know, the religious business, the counseling business, I've been in this business a long time, and I'll tell you, I've boiled it all down to two things that I've learned: one is, there is a God; and the second is: I ain't Him."

There are just some things about God that are inscrutable that we aren't going to understand. Now, is that just something that we conclude by human logic? No, God, Himself, in answer to the question, who is God, He even tells us that part about Himself.

Look at Deuteronomy 29:29. He tells us that that itch is going to go unscratched, and just deal with it. Just live with it. I mean, don't you have some questions - you say, "Yeah, I think I've got a handle on this, but God, here I read where you did this, and I just can't get it. Why did you do it that way?"

Deuteronomy 29:29 - The secret things belong to the Lord, our God...and they're going to stay with Him. And some of those are about Himself. But those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of this law. God has revealed enough to us to fill our platter. We've got plenty to deal with, what He has shown us, and a lot of it has to do with whether we'll be obedient to what He has revealed to us. But there are secret things that belong to Him that He has not chosen to disclose. There are things about God that are inscrutable; they are unknowable by the human mind.

Paul said the same thing in Romans 11. So, that's not just an Old Testament reality. Let's look over in Romans 11. Who is God? He's inscrutable. He hides certain of aspects of what He is, and how He thinks. Now, He discloses a lot through His spirit and through His word, but there are some things He doesn't disclose.

Romans 11:33 - Here's Paul, after just having given a great deal of revelation about what God does, and what God is, he bumped up against that wall beyond which human beings are not permitted to go, and he concluded this: Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways are past finding out! ...some of them, not all of them. A lot of them He does show us. But there are some of His judgments, some of His ways, that are past finding out. He is inscrutable.

Verse 34 - For who has known the mind of the Eternal? Or who has become His counselor? Or who has first given to Him and it should be repaid to him?

Isaiah 55: - This message about how there are aspects of God that are unknowable by the human mind in this life is throughout the Bible. It is said on a number of occasions.

Isaiah 55:8 - God being quoted, this isn't through a prophet, this is directly first person, a quote from God. God says, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," says the Lord.

Verse 9 - For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. So, when you're reading, especially, I think, sometimes through the Old Testament, but throughout the Bible, and you see something God did, and you say, "I just can't fully grasp that," join the human race. We all have questions that we are not going to get full answers to this side of inhabiting eternity, and that is just the way it, but that's good. That's fine. That's the way God has set it up. Always leave them wanting more. That's an old expression, even in show business. Well, God always leaves us wanting more. There is a passage, I think it is in Ecclesiastes, God has put eternity in their hearts that they might seek Him. Even in the unconverted, if I can use that term, the natural human mind, there is a wonderment about what's beyond physical life, and I think it is the few, the first fruits, down through the ages, that have been privileged to have the key turned where they get a lot of insights; where they can at least look into that room called eternity, and perceive a lot more than the natural unenlightened human mind can. Well, we could go on and on, and I've got other scriptures there, but point five: God is inscrutable.

Now, so far, I doubt very seriously that I've said a single thing that's controversial, that you wouldn't have come up with on your own: God is all powerful; He is spirit; He is omnipresent; He's eternal; and there are parts of Him that we just can't understand. That is what I would call the low hanging fruit. That was easy.

But then, we graduate to some areas that require more of a reach, and they require real spiritual care, and very great dependence on God for revelation. I want to get into a couple of points now that I think we all were confronted with in the last decade, because the next point, who is God, point number six, God is one. Well, what in the world does that mean?

There is some sense in which God is one. Now, let's look at some scriptures:

Deuteronomy 6:4 - is the one most often quoted. This was a launching pad to a great deal of spiritual mischief a few years ago. It doesn't have to be. It is in the Bible. We don't have to be afraid of it. "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!

Now, I want you to read the verses that sandwich that verse. Let's go back to Deuteronomy 6:3 and Deuteronomy 6:5. If there is anything we've learned over the ages, down through the years, the decades, it's look at the context. What is the context of Deuteronomy 6:4?

Deuteronomy 6:3 - "Hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey.

Verse 4 - "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!

Verse 5 - You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. What is the theme of those three verses? Who are you to obey? Here was a group of people going into the promised land, a land that had been inhabited by idolaters. From its nativity, the nation of Israel was surrounded by idolatry. Abraham came from a family that were idolaters. He sent his servant back to his homeland to get a wife for his son, Isaac, from a family of idolaters. Jacob, the son of that son, went back and got a wife, and then he got another wife, and then he got two handmaidens from a family of idolaters. So, from the beginning, idolatry surrounded this nation.

Over and over again, what did God tell His people? Don't worship other gods. What is the theme of this passage? You are not to worship other gods. You are only to worship God.

One way that we can understand Deuteronomy 6:4 is to understand in context it is not a numerical description. It could just as easily be translated: "You are only (the word - "one" - could be translated - "only"), you are only to worship God, and not all these other gods that the pagans idolatrously worship. That's one way to understand it. There are other ways. I'm going to cover that as well.

I want to refer you in the booklet - there's a whole chapter - if you don't make it a practice of reading all of our church literature, I really urge you to read this booklet, and not read it, study it. Take whatever period it is to study it carefully, but there is a whole chapter, beginning on page seventeen, how is God one? And it can cover it in a lot more detail than I'll be able to cover in this sermon. But on page twenty, there is a side bar. It is a full explanation of Deuteronomy 6:4 The Lord our God is one! And it gives two or three explanations of Deuteronomy 6:4, all of which are consistent with the truth of what God is, and none of which are heretical, as we were exposed to in recent years.

There are some times that we have to admit that we don't have all knowledge of God, and He is inscrutable, and there might be two, or even three, different ways to understand a verse, all of which are consistent with the rest of the Bible. You see what I mean? And we may just have to humbly admit that we don't have all revelation yet. Maybe God hasn't given it yet. But there are two or three explanations of Deuteronomy 6:4 that are consistent with everything else we teach and understand about God. One of them is that Deuteronomy 6:4 in context is not talking about how many members of the Godhead there are. The word - "one" - could just as easily be translated - "alone", and in context it's saying, "Who is it you are free to worship, O Israel." Can you worship God and these other gods of the Canaanites? No, He's saying, only, alone, you are to worship God, and not (it's an exclusive statement, that you're not to worship any other gods.) It knocks in the head the whole notion of syncretism. Well, I'll take a little truth, a little God, a little paganism, a little this, and I'll worship God in multiple ways. I'll worship God on Sunday. I'll worship this god over here on the next day, and over here, and I'll just have a whole combination of ingredients in my religious life. God says, "That's not acceptable to Me." "Only Me, do you worship."

I want to point out a very important scriptural principle as we talk about this point, that God is one, and that is that the Bible defines it's own absolutes. I think we have covered this here in another context. But I want to take you to I Corinthians 15 to show you a very important point. Remember this as you study all manner of doctrine. The Bible defines it's own statements. It defines it's own absolute statements.

Let me illustrate what I mean by that. I Corinthians 15. Now, what does the mean "all" mean? All. Well, it means there is another word; it is hard to define the word without using the word itself. It means, with no exceptions, doesn't it? Or does it? If the Bible uses the word - "all" - does it mean with no exceptions? Well, it will, unless it tells us that there are exceptions. But if the Bible uses the word, "all", and then says, "well, there is one exception to that," then it is clear that it means, "there are no exceptions except this one." Now notice that.

I Corinthians 15:24 - It's talking about the very end of God's plan, and it says: Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.

Verse 25 - For He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet.

Verse 26 - The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

Verse 27 - For He has put all things under His feet. Does "all" mean with no exceptions? You would think so. But what is this saying? All will be under Christ's authority.

Now, right in the middle of writing that, Paul says, "Well, lest anybody misunderstand, I'd better modify that absolute statement," so he goes on...

Verse 27 - But when He says "all things are put under His feet," it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. All will worship Christ. It should be obvious that there is one exception to that, and who is that? The Father. The Father will not be put under the authority of Christ. That should be obvious. So, the Bible uses the word, "all," but then it clearly gives us that there is one exception. All will be under Christ, except the Father, and Paul points that out.

The Bible defines it's own absolutes. Now, "one" is an absolute statement, if we're talking about the numerical one, unless the Bible modifies that one, and gives us further understanding of how God is one. So, in exactly the same way that the Bible defines "all", to show that it means: all, except the Father, it defines "one" to show what exactly "one" means.

Let's go to some of those other verses that define how God is "one." Let's let the Bible interpret the Bible.

John 17 - Again, we don't have to go through the words of another writer, and get it second or third hand, Christ's own words. The last prayer, the last night he lived, before his crucifixion, His prayer to the Father: God is one. "Hear, O Israel, God is one." Now, as I said, one explanation of that is one can be translated "only." The "only" one you are to worship is God, and not any of these pagan gods. But even if we wanted to say, "No, it doesn't mean "only," it means "one." What does the Bible define "one" to mean?

All right, let's go to John 17:20. Jesus' heart-felt prayer. Well, they were all heart-felt, but this was very intense.

John 17:20 - He says: I do not pray for these, alone, just the disciples He had on the earth then, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. That includes Christians down through time. ...that they all may be one. God is one. Yeah, but so is the church, one. Now, should it not be obvious that "one" can be talking about a group that is united in their minds, that has a "one" spirit, but that are still individuals...more than one individual? That's what He says. The Bible is defining "one", in this case, to include more than one individual.

Verse 21 - That they may be one as you, Father, are in me, and I in you. So, the church is to be one as God is one. So, when God says, "God is one," how is God one? He consists of more than one individual, just as this room is one in spirit. How many churches are in this room? One. How many individuals? A hundred? I don't know, a hundred and twenty? Surely, you don't think we're all one person, do you? But we are one church.

How many Kirkpatrick families are represented in this room? One. How many members of the Kirkpatrick family? Five. There are five Kirkpatrick family members, but there is one Kirkpatrick family. The same could be said of all the others families in this room; one family consisting of multiple individuals. God is one family. This is one of the greatest revelations, and one of the most important revelations, about God that you and I have been privileged to be given. It's not because we are any smarter than anybody else. This, I believe, has been one of the keys that has been turned in the minds of those with God's spirit that they can read the word of God and understand. God is one, in the same sense that the church is one. It consists of more than one numeric individual, but it's one in mind, one in spirit, one in attitude, one in desire. Don't we all pray, "thy kingdom come?" We're all of the same, one, mind. Don't we all say, "God, we want your will, not our will?" At least, on our better moments, we say that. There is a unity, though we're multiple individuals.

Verse 22 - The glory which You gave me I gave them, that they may be one as We are one. Now, I don't know how it could be clearer than that. How is the church one? Is it all one individual numerically? Of course not. But it's one in the sense that God is one. More than one individual in the church; more than one center of consciousness; more than one personality in God. John 10.

Jesus' words earlier. So, let's let the Bible define Deuteronomy 6:4. Let's let the Bible, itself, reveal to us how God is one, and not force a meaning into it that isn't there, that isn't consistent with other scriptures. All the scriptures together have to dovetail. You can't have a scripture over here, unless the Bible contradicts itself, that says, "God is one individual, and only one," and over here that He's multiple individuals. They all have to dovetail and be in harmony.

John 10:28 - I give them eternal life... this is Jesus talking...and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.

Verse 29 - My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.

Verse 30 - I and My Father are one. Are they one individual? No, they are two individuals. Is the church one individual? No, it's multiple individuals, but it's one in unity, in harmony, at least that is Christ's desire for the church.

Philippians 2:5 - Are all dog breeds the same? No. You have big dogs, little dogs, black dogs, white dogs, peaceful dogs, violent dogs, but they're all dogs, aren't they? They all share one thing. That's called dog nature. They're all one in their nature. So are human beings; tall people, short people, educated people, uneducated people, people who speak different languages, but we all have on thing in common. That's called human nature. What do the two individuals in the Godhead have? One spirit. God nature. The God mind. This is the prayer of Paul: Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus. That's the way that the church is one. It all has the same one spirit in it motivating it, changing each individual member from within. How many spirits? One spirit. How many members? Many members.

Jesus looked up at one time and said, "Father, I thank you that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto the simple, the babes." In one sense, brethren, this is not hard to understand. My children, even when they were very little, could understand: you could have one family; many members, one church, many members. God is one, but there is more than one individual, just like there is more than one individual in a family.

Galatians 3:28 - How is God one? He is one, but how is He one? The Bible further defines it. There is neither Jew nor Greek. Well, sure there are. There were Jews in the church back then, and there were Greeks in the church back then, and they were different individuals. There is neither slave nor free. Yes, there were, but in the sense of oneness that the Bible is talking about...well, just let Paul finish the thought. There is neither male nor female. Yes, there were, but there was an overriding reality to the church. You are all one in Christ, Jesus; the same Christ living in Jews as in Greeks; males as in females; rich as in poor; slave as in free; one Christ, one spirit, living in them all. One. The church is one, and God is one.

I won't go there, but you could also make reference to I Corinthians 12... One body, many members...How many hands? Two. How many bodies? One. Two ears, two eyes, two hands; one body. The church is one. God is one. Multiple components to the one.

All right, well that was the sixth answer to the question: Who is God? God is one.

Now, what is the seventh, who is God? What's the answer that comes next? God is two. And those are not contradictory notions, if we let the Bible describe its own absolutes. We've seen the sense in which God is one. The Father and Christ are one. Christ never argued with the Father. He willingly came and gave up His life. He says, "I didn't come to do my own will. I came to do the will of my Father, who sent me." There was perfect unity, cooperation, harmony in the one God consisting of two individuals. But now, we look at the other side of it, which is God is two. There are two.

Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and the earth. Elohim, is the word translated - "God" - in your Bible. Elohim is a plural word. I could say, "I did a lot of work yesterday." I could use a single verb, talking about - "I, me." I could also say, "My two hands did a lot of work yesterday." I would be describing the exact same phenomenon. Tom Kirkpatrick working; his two hands working; it's the same thing. Elohim - God: the God family: the Father and the Word created the heaven and the earth. There is a plurality to God.

John 1:1 - is as clear when you understand it as the day is long. And yet, this thing got twisted up like a pretzel that was unrecognizable by some people. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. Now, if you are "with" someone, there are two people, you and that other person. You're with them. You're not the same as that person. If I am with my wife at a movie, there are two of us at the movie. So, in the beginning, before there was matter, there was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The word - "Theos" - is used in the Greek, in both instances translated as God. The Word was with "Theos," and the Word was "Theos." It's that second sense; the second occurrence; the Word was God, where we talk about the God level, the God family. The "Word" was a part of that family.

I could say, "yesterday, my wife was with Kirkpatrick," and you would know what I meant. She was with me, and "my wife was Kirkpatrick," and they're both true. They're not mutually exclusive statements. There is a God level. There is a God group, and that is the God family, the one God family, and that is the fantastic goal that we all have, to be members of that one God family. The Word was with God, the Father, that's clear what that means, and He was God. He was part of the God group, the God family, the God level of existence.

There are two, two consciences, two wills...you think I am making that up? There are two wills. There is the Father's will, and the Son's will, and the miracle of all eternity, and the miracle of the universe is those wills never clash. One always yields to the other, and almost always they come to the exactly the same anyway, but if there is a difference, the one willingly is happy to yield to the other one. That's the mystery, the glorious good news of eternity.

Jesus, on the last night of His life, said, "If it's possible, O Father, let this cup be delivered from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done." Never is antagonistic or resists the will of the Father. So, there are two wills, two minds, two personalities that they united as one.

Who resurrected Christ? It had to be the Father. Who sent Christ? It had to be the Father. Who begat Christ? It had to be the Father. To whom did He pray? It had to be the Father. He wasn't praying to Himself, so, there are two. The one who became Christ was the Word, always was, is now, and always will be with the one we know as the Father. There are those who would have Christ be a created being. That is a heresy; it's not true.

Let me read a couple of statements, very briefly, out of this booklet on this point. On page twenty-two, we see, then, that the Father and Jesus Christ are one in the same sense that Jesus prayed to the Father to be one, one in purpose. "Prayed for the church to be one - one in purpose, one in belief, one in direction, one in faith spirit and attitude - joined together by the Holy Spirit."

"This spiritual oneness, this unity between and among brethren, can be accomplished only through God's Spirit working in all truly converted Christians. Their unity through the Holy Spirit should reflect the perfect unity - the oneness - of God the Father and Jesus Christ."

Another quote: "The Father and Jesus have, from the beginning, planned to increase Their kind. The God kind is a family! It is headed by the Father and now consists of the Father and the Son, (two) Jesus Christ (being the second, the Father being the first.) These two have always existed and always will exist. Their plan and desire are to add to Their kind, - bringing many sons to glory - Just as all life was made to reproduce after it's own kind, as stated in Genesis 1, God patterned man after the God kind. This is the ultimate meaning of Genesis 1:26 where God says, ‘Let us make man in our image.' This is a two-stage process. First, God made man physical, of the dust of the earth. Then, through conversion, and faith in Christ and obedience to God's spiritual law of love, men and women become a new spiritual creation. This leads to the final birth of new children into the divine family, (the one family,) who then are ‘like' Christ, Himself the firstborn Son of God."

"Indeed, just a human children are the same kind of beings as their parents (that is, human beings), so will God's children be the same kind of beings as the Father and Christ (that is divine beings). This is the awesome destiny of mankind! The one God family will expand through God's wonderful plan as revealed in His word."

"All children of this family - including Christ, who has always been with the one that He revealed as ‘the Father' will forever in the future willingly be under the ultimate sovereignty and leadership of the Father. Led by the Father and Christ, the members of this divine family will share a glorious and righteous eternity into the future."

"This, then, is the sense in which God is a family - a growing family, presently comprising two divine Beings, the Father and Christ the firstborn, yet ultimately to be joined by a vast multitude of others."

Incredible truth that we have been privileged to understand.

OK, let's go on: God is one, and God is two. Now, believe it or not, for lack of time, we will hurry through the rest of it.

Point 8: Who is God? "God is love." Before we get too far into a definition of God, let's get back to basics. He is love. He loves His creation. I'd like to quote, again very briefly, from the booklet, page 68: "God's Nature and Character." Before you get too technical about God, you go back at arm's length. What is God all about? He's about love. He loves His creation, and His family will be a loving family. "In any discussion about who and what God is, we must not lose sight of the important truth about God - that God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son are Beings of infinite love. John perfectly summarized Their divine character and nature when he wrote: God is love. (I John 4:8)"

Love is the foundation of the character and law of God. It is the basis of everything God has revealed to mankind in Holy Scripture.

Point 9: Who is God? Well, He's a spirit, He's omnipotent, He's omnipresent, He's eternal, He's inscrutable. There's a sense in which He's one. There's a sense in which He's two: The Father and the Word. Now we know Them as the Father and Christ, two uncreated, eternal beings, who have always been part of the "one" God family, but it's a growing family that will grow and grow and grow and have many members. And yes, He is love, but He is also holy. God is holy. Again, it almost goes without saying, but this is not a thing where we wear our shoes. You know, this is holy ground. Take your shoes off in the presence of God, at least, symbolically. He is to be worshipped as holy.

Isaiah 6:1 - Let me just read that to you. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

Verse 2 - Above it stood the seraphim; each one had six wings; describing these beings that are around the presence of the throne of God, with two, he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, with two he flew.

Verse 3 - And one cried unto another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.

In the New Testament, in:

Revelation 3:7 - To the church... in Philadelphia write, These saith he that is holy, and he that is true. God is holy.

What is the essence of the meaning of "holy?" It means separate from all other things. It means: "clean." Everything over here is dirty, but over here, separate, we have something that is clean. He is above all else. He is holy, but He intends for us to become holy, and that is an awesome reality like He is holy.

I Peter 1:15 - You know, God isn't way up here, holy, and we're always going to be something else. He wants us to join Him in holiness. But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conduct; for it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy." God is holy.

The next point: God is faithful. You can depend on Him. And I'll only give you one or two quick references on that one. Who is God? He is faithful. He doesn't lie. If He says it, consider it done.

Titus 1:1 - Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness,

Verse 2 - in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began. If you find that God has promised something, it will happen. It doesn't matter how impossible it seems, or how long we have to wait. It will happen. He is faithful

I Peter 4:19 - Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator. He is faithful. We can trust Him with our eternal lives.

A related point: Who is God? God is true. Just one verse there:

John 3:33 - He that has received His testimony has set to his seal that God is true.

Coming near the end of the, who is God, point thirteen if you've been counting, God is merciful. This great God, of all power and of all knowledge; should we run away from Him in terror, because He's so holy, and so powerful, and so big? No. He's very merciful. He wants to extend mercy to human beings. God described Himself when He revealed Himself to Moses.

Exodus 34:6 - God's self-description: The Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth. This is not an evil giant of the universe; it's a merciful, loving, good source of all power and knowledge. God is merciful.

God is approachable. Now, that is maybe the most comforting "God is," of all. As great as He is, and as inscrutable in some ways as He is, we can find Him; we can approach Him. He's not so far away or distant from us.

James 4:8 - encourages us. Draw near to God, and he, in turn, will draw near to you.

God is approachable. As great as He is, as insignificant as we feel by comparison, He wants us to draw near to Him, but it's on His terms. We have to understand that. He tells us how we can draw near to Him by humility and obedience. But He is approachable. He is findable.

Psalm 145:18 - The Lord is near unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth. Not through human reasoning; God, I'll come to you on my terms, the way it seems best to me, but I'll come to you as your word tells me, obediently, and with humility.

Very quickly, those are the things God is. What does God do? What is He in the business of doing? If you know what a person does, you know a lot about them. I only have two quick points as God reveals Himself to us - what He does.

The obvious one: God is in the business of creating. He is the Creator. Everything springs from this incredible mind. He brings things into being out of nothing. God is the Creator. There would be many, many scriptures we could turn to; I'll give you a couple. God is Creator.

Now, the Father is the ultimate source of everything, but He does often what He does through the agency of Christ. Christ, and the Father, are perfect in plan and execution. Christ is the active agent, often, of what the Father has dictated, but, He's the Creator.

Colossians 1:16 - By him, (that is Christ, the active agent, who is doing His Father's work for Him, or part of it...) for by him, (that is Christ,) were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible... Christ created the angels at the behest of the Father. He created the physical universe at the behest of the Father. Ultimately, it came from the Father because Christ says, "My Father is greater than I." On the earth, He said, "I didn't come to do my will. I came to do the will of my Father." Well, if God changes not, in all past eternity, the Word would not have been there to do His own will, but the will of the most high God; the one we know as the Father.

As I say, that's almost a mysteriously wonderful truth that there is no tension, never has been; it's always been love. It's always been harmony, and it's always been the one yielding to the other, setting the example for the entire family, but all things were created by Christ, and the same basic truth is laid out in:

Isaiah 42:5 - Thus says God the Eternal, that created the heavens, and stretched them out, He that spread forth the earth, and that which comes out of it.

And the second thing, and the flip side of God being the Creator; He's the spiritual Creator. The second thing God does is: He saves. He takes that which is physical and saves it from having to stay physical. He takes you and me, who were made from the dust of the earth, and saves us so we don't stay the dust of the earth, and elevates us out of mortality so that we can inhabit eternity with Him, as part of the "one" God family. God is savior. He's a saving God. He's in the business of saving clay so that it can become spirit children, sons and daughters.

I Timothy 2:3 - God is a savior. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior.

Verse 4 - Who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

All those who will let God save them will be saved. One other quick reference there:

Isaiah 45:22 - Look unto me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is none else. There is none else that saves. "I save flesh, so that it can live as spirit forever and ever."

You noticed when I was going through the points of what God is? I said there was a sense in which God is one, and there is a sense (and now we understand it, I hope,) in which God is two; two co-eternal, uncreated, spirit beings, that always have, and always will exist.

Just as a point in passing, I stopped. I didn't keep counting. There is no sense in which God is three. There is no sense in which God is a trinity, and in fact the doctrine of the trinity blinds people to these other wonderful truths of God. I would refer you, again...there's a couple of chapters in this booklet that cover in great detail how that the trinity is not a Biblical doctrine; it does not describe God. The holy spirit is not a person; is not a center of consciousness. It's the power of God. It is the mind of God. It is the presence of God, and the Father in Christ, but it is not an individual, and the trinity doctrine has blinded so many people to the reality of what God is, and what God's plan is.

Let us conclude with a very inspiring quote, again, from this booklet, based on the scriptures, and again, I would heartily recommend that you read and study this booklet. Let's conclude here: "Everlasting abundant life in the Kingdom as part of the God family is our ultimate destiny. That is what Christ makes possible. That is why God, (the Father, and Christ), created us in His image. That is why it is so important to understand the truth about the nature of our Creator.

John wrote: Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God. Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it has not been revealed yet what we shall be. There are some parts of that that are inscrutable, and we'll have to wait until the resurrection to fully understand. But we do know that when He, that is Christ, is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

Finally, Paul makes it clear that believers are the children of God, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, and he explains that the sufferings of this present time are not even worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. In other words, says Paul, in the resurrection, believers will be on the same plain of existence as God, the Father and Christ, having been transformed into the same kind of beings They are. Amazingly, this is the astounding potential destiny of all humanity, and though we will number in the millions, even billions, we will be perfectly joined together as one. At that momentous time, we will all partake of the divine nature in the most ultimate sense, being divine members of the very family of God for all eternity.