What is God Like?
What is God Like? Imagine, if you will, what God is like in size, substance, intelligence. My curiosity on what God is like is what I contemplated when began writing the The Messengers of God series. The following material I feel is “food for thought” if you are interested in the supernatural generically and God in particular. Especially if you ever find yourself thinking "What is God like?".
Beginning the Messengers of God
The Messengers of God series is a work of fiction; it uses truths from the Bible to guide the reader down the path of “what if.” That is, what if God the Father should decide to precede the return of His Son Jesus to this earth with a revival. In bringing revival, what if God were to choose to bring that revival, by letting mankind experience God’s physical interaction with mankind once again; but not in a limited way. How might He deal with the natural catastrophes we sometimes find ourselves dealing with? How might He deal with the social, political, and cultural failures that sometimes plague our planet? This series provides one possible answer. However, in order to put yourself into the setting of the series, it might be useful to address some of the following thoughts.
Before Time Began, Who Was God?
Before time there was, is and always will be infinity. The only reason for time is because we live in a finite existence. It is only when we shed our mortal bodies that we enter into eternity, an infinite state. In my opinion, before time, God became lonely. Because all that existed was Himself. He had to take of Himself in order to create anything. So He created His Son Jesus, His only begotten son. God now had a companion that was/is complete in every way and not limited, and was of God and therefore was also God. God, the Father, created His Holy Spirit, or, if not created, re-oriented His spirit to be used as a means for safe communication with mankind; a creation yet to come.
Spiritual Beings Were With God
God enjoyed this companionship with Himself and decided to also create other beings and a place in which He and all these new beings could live, called heaven. These beings would be very much like Him also, except they were able to choose to love God or not. They were His first known attempt to have other beings in His presence that could love Him or not. This was rewarding to have these beings love Him freely and not be required to love Him. These beings were called angels. Angels were also spiritual, they were immortal. Remember, at this point only the spiritual world or spiritual universe or spiritual existence was present; whatever you wish to call it.
There was a falling away, a rebellion, caused by Lucifer or Satan. God was not pleased with this and removed Satan and his followers from heaven.
Immortal Spiritual Beings
There may have been other creations; these are the only ones we know about except for one more, mankind, as we know of mankind today. This time God made man, an immortal spiritual being (in His image) that would live in a mortal body. Man then would be of flesh and spirit and free to choose to do whatever he wished to do, think, feel, or who to love. When man chooses to love God, God is pleased because man is not required to love God; man is not a robot.
God. What's He Really Like?
Now God is a spirit, according to the Bible. Based on a few limited descriptions from the Bible, it can be assumed that if we could somehow observe God from a safe distance He could (not is) be a roiling, rumbling, crackling and thundering being that is extremely hot and a light brighter than that of a lightning bolt. Any mortal creature would be destroyed by just His literal presence; and He says as much in the Bible. He had to appear to man in ways that would protect man from Him. He created or re-orientated His Holy Spirit for possibly a number of reasons but certainly to comfort and to carry out certain communications with mankind. As He moved about in His spiritual world it is conceivable that He changed in appearance in frightful ways, but always bright and hot enough to destroy anything in the temporary existence of mankind.
Everything Is Created by God
It isn’t necessary that our existence was created by God using of Himself to accomplish our creation. However, since I have a physics and mathematics background, I think it is logical that everything in our universe, including our existence, was created from God Himself; this concept doesn’t detract from God in any way. This assumption would help explain why He can be everywhere (omnipresent) and know what is going on everywhere. God could have converted vast amounts of Himself, intelligent energy, into the various products that make up the universe and everything within the universe. This is logically why He, a spirit, could “speak” the physical creation into existence. This could also explain why all cells that make up all living things, include instruction sets regarding how they are to multiply and form the various parts of the human body; for example. In my opinion, He was then and is now the supreme architect of all that exists; in the spiritual world and in our world.
Our True Selves
Spiritual power and spiritual existence is not fully understood (if at all). However, the spiritual side of God, which is the side our true selves come from (we are made in His image, “…let us make man in our image.”), is powerful enough for God to “speak” the also powerful “spiritual energy side” into a physical universe, certainly as the energy basis for our universe. All the materials in the universe: solids, liquids, and gases, are made of tightly packed energy, a tremendous amount of energy. If one wonders about the power or energy of God, consider what happens when the atom is split as part of a nuclear explosion; or how long an aircraft carrier can operate using a very small amount of “nuclear fuel” without refueling. All the extraordinary power and energy of our existence comes from the spiritual side of life, a place where time has no meaning.
God Created from Himself
God is infinite. Before the universe or any of His creation(s), there was only God. What God is made up of is unknown; however, he is at minimum, a spiritual being of intelligent power and energy. The spiritual part we know very little of and are, only in recent times beginning to understand the physical universe He created, including us. I believe that He filled then and fills now the vacuum that later became the space of the universe. When He decided to create, I believe that He used the actual substance of Himself for the materials of creation that he “spoke” into the form He desired, using His spiritual power. He created massive amounts of solid, fluid, and gaseous materials by converting massive amounts of energy, of Himself, to do so. Everything is literally part of Him. This simple explanation is the only explanation that makes sense. That is, what was there before the “Big Bang?” Why was there a “Big Bang?” What or who decided there should be a “Big Bang?” The Bible is the only account that provides a reasonable explanation of who we are, where we came from, and where everything else came from; and where everything, including us, will end up. Note that the Bible said God is infinite before man had a real understanding of what infinite is. When God spoke to Moses from the burning bush that was not consumed, God wanted Moses to go back to Egypt and lead God’s people out of bondage. Moses said to God that the people would ask Moses who sent him to lead them out of bondage. Moses wanted to know how to answer that question. God said to tell the people that “I Am” had sent him. God has always been, is now and will always be. That folks, is the simple definition of an infinite person.
Where it All Began
There are a lot of stories in the Bible whose purpose was to make significant points. The real significance of the story of creation was to let us know that God created everything; how he actually accomplished creation is not important. The people living some 1400 years ago BC, would never understand the technical details anyway. For that matter, it would not be until the middle of the 1900’s AD that mankind would have enough technical understanding to comprehend how God might have created the universe.
Science has discovered that the universe did start all at once; that is, the “Big Bang” theory. We know that Darwinian evolution was not how it all started. It is important to note that for evolution to have any meaning, it had to have a starting point. Something had to already exist for evolution to have something to evolve. Evolutionary processes do take place within species but only as necessary for a species to survive over long periods of physical changes in the world.
We know that the atomic structure is the basic design for all elements; the elements are then, the basic building blocks of everything. The next tier in the design involves how the basic elements are used in living things; genetics, DNA, and the instruction set that tells each cell how it is to multiply in order to “build” something that will be a part of either the biological or zoological realms. Those instruction sets are important. They not only determine what the end product will be, but they also determine all the parts of the end product: skin, bone, brain, heart, etc.
Man Discovers, Not Creates
We have discovered different forms of energy. We have discovered the spectrum of light. All this existed from the beginning, man is “just now” discovering it all. There may well be much more to discover. Remember, man has discovered, man did not create. Also note, too much is laid on the words in Genesis regarding the “days” and the number of “days” that God took to create the universe and finally, mankind.
If one is to take literally the “days” in Genesis, one must also note other scripture that says that to God a day is like unto a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. This means to me that the “days” of creation could have been literal 24 hour days or they could have been days, as in “the day of Abraham”, or in the day of anything else that refers to the time of something or someone’s life or an era. If it helps to get past the “day” stumbling block of creation, created by some, then look at it as “in the days of creation”, the six steps God took to do the job and told as a story so anyone can understand that God created everything.
God the Creator
When in the course of creation, 24 hour days finally existed, God set aside the seventh day as a day of rest to commemorate His creation and the work He expended to accomplish creation. Remember, the Bible also didn’t say that God created the atomic structure first as a foundation for all materials, gases and liquids. The Bible also doesn’t say that then God created genetics/DNA for living tissue. Again, think about it. If God had related the technical details of His architecture in the Bible then the Bible would not be a timeless document. The early readers would not have understood and only now would we begin to understand. The technical details are not what is important. That God is the creator is what is important.
Purpose of the Story
We must always remember and look for the purpose(s) of each story in the Bible. What some people typically do is try to pick the stories to pieces with whatever current technology there is at any given time, failing to admit or understand the stories were written to make points, not explain technology. The points to be made had to be understood by uneducated poor people as well as educated people long before any of the technology we have today existed that might have helped to explain better. For that matter, there are a lot of uneducated poor people today that would not understand the Bible much better than those of antiquity; that is, the Bible was written to be timeless and was written to the least of us, so they could get the drift God wanted them to get. No one has needed to be sophisticated or highly educated to understand the stuff God wants us to get out of His word.
God is Our Father
We cannot possibly know the mind of God. Not His ways or methods, not at His level of understanding, not at His level of capacity or capabilities, or all of His purposes. To this end we are ignorant to a very large degree. We do know that He wants us to know Him and to love Him to the level of worship. We are to Him much like children are to us. We find God difficult to comprehend or to believe in when we fail to realize we are here for His purposes, not ours. Adult human beings do not typically want to think of themselves as children. As we grow up we continually want to be older and be recognized as adults before we actually gain adulthood. We don’t like the idea that we never become adults in God’s eyes. We are His children. The Bible stories are meant to give us a simplistic understanding of what God wants us to know, not criticized as a poor, inaccurate, or incomplete textbook.
Who is God?
How many creations did God have? Angels had to be created, His only begotten son, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, did they have to be created? The term “begotten” implies creation regarding Jesus. According to the Bible, the universe was the last of His creations that we know of.
Why do some men and women without thinking attempt to make God the size of man, or maybe the size of a tall building, or other comparison? Most people have never given a thought to God in terms of how big He is in volume or weight or some other measurement. But we tend to limit Him without thinking about it. We try to put Him into a shape that we feel comfortable with. Even when we look into a microscope and see the miniature world in a drop of water, we still don’t realize the true scale of things. Since we have been able to get some idea of the size of the known universe, we have truly started to get a physical idea of the enormity of the term infinity.
Don't Limit God, the Great I Am
We are in a universe that is to us much like a microscopic creature would look at a small dirt pond used to water cattle on a ranch, never mind the ocean. For all we know we live in a drop of something that is under the microscope of some even larger creature, God. How arrogant we are to limit God and put Him into any limiting descriptive. Remember, He is infinite in power and energy as well as existence. He has always been, He is now, and He will always be; the Great I Am!
To Infinity, and Beyond
So, once again, to say that God is infinite to me says that He literally fills the infinite space where the universe also resides. Since He existed prior to any of His creations, my take is that, at that point He literally filled all the infinite space with Himself. Everything He created He created from Himself. There was nothing else from which to create anything. His self, made of infinite energy and power (He, being intelligent energy and power) is what filled the infinite space. Therefore, God’s true size is infinite. When He appeared to Moses in the burning bush, the bush and the area surrounding it were merely a location God chose to communicate with Moses. The column of fire and smoke that He used with the children of Israel in their wanderings with Moses were merely a means used by God to provide a place of focus for the Israelites. That was not His size, only a proof of His presence that He felt was necessary at the time used for encouragement and direction. It was a theatrical tool He knew man sometimes needed for spiritual and visual reference.
So, if we wish to depict the infiniteness of God, we must do a better job than depicting Him as a man (different from Jesus on earth), or a cloud of smoke or a pillar of fire. When Jesus was on this earth, he was fully God and also fully man.
Choices, His and Ours
God wants us to follow Him based on faith, His choice. Therefore, He doesn’t make Himself known very often to anyone, again, His choice.
The requirements of the Bible seem silly to some, that is, baptism and before that, animal sacrifice. We don’t question a fraternity or sorority house making new members go through rituals for membership. We also don’t question what is required to become a Navy SEAL. If you want into the Navy SEALs, you go through their training and qualification requirements. If you want into Heaven, you must do what God requires. What’s the difference? It is actually easier to become a Christian than to become a Navy SEAL. Why do we question God’s requirements? It is His choice. He wants our love and obedience.
Take Care of One Another
God said that Christians should care for their widows, orphans, sick, and elderly, NOT THE GOVERNMENT (ROMAN GOVERNMENT AT THE TIME). Why do we today want the Government to do everything for us? God did not want this. In the book of Isaiah, the account is told of God’s people going to Egypt for help rather than coming to God; God was not happy. Why will some among us get all up in arms about putting a murderer to death but, will encourage killing babies? In a way, those that want the government to do what God has told us to do are looking at the government as a god. This is wrong.
To Know Him is to Love Him
OBSERVATION: This life provides us the opportunity to love God. In order to love God, we must know Him well enough to love Him. The Bible tells us how to accept Jesus Christ and how we are saved. This life is not the destination; it is the journey to the destination; salvation in heaven with The Father, His Son Jesus, His Holy Spirit, and the angels. This is why I feel that God doesn’t make physical appearances (at least not very often). He would, in effect, ruin the test of faith and love for Him. If anyone were to have a personal, physical experience with God, then they would no longer need faith. Therefore, I think more would be expected of such a person. I also think that anyone who believes and follows God based on faith, to them God provides His grace; that is, He cuts them some slack.
Prayer Brings Us Closer
OBSERVATION: When we pray, we should examine carefully what we pray for. Praying for a yacht and the money to maintain it would not, for example, be received nearly as well as a prayer for an opportunity to bring someone you know to the Lord. The items of wealth are not important, someone’s salvation is. Some things we pray for, I think, will be ignored totally. Not that God cares whether we are wealthy or not. If we should attain wealth, we should thank Him for it, because we do not know if He gave us the wealth or not. That is, maybe in some instances He is giving us a reward for something we accomplished or He just wants us to have something. He could also give us wealth to test us, regarding what we might do with it. However, such gifts are not necessarily from God. They could also be from Satan to temp us into a sinful lifestyle. Something to think about.
Uncomfortable Insecurity is Human
Because we humans/mortals want to always feel as secure and in control as possible, we try to ignore the nature of our existence. We get uncomfortable when someone makes us aware that we are on a small planet in a solar system that is spinning around in a universe that is beyond our ability to measure. We don’t want to hear that an asteroid of relatively small size could erase all life on this planet if it were to collide with us. We don’t want to hear that this occurrence has already happened before, at least two times that we can tell. We don’t want to hear that if an asteroid doesn’t strike us a super volcano could erupt and end all life on this planet as it has at least once that we know of.
Many don’t want to know there is a God and He has expectations of us. Many don’t want to know that when our bodies die, life isn’t over. Sort of like, “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” If there is an afterlife, what happened in Vegas doesn’t necessarily stay in Vegas. Even though we see examples of bodies dying and being reborn all the time in the insect world with butterflies, for example. We don’t want to know that our individual existence and the existence of all mankind are fragile at best. This is scary stuff that makes us uncomfortable; and we want to be comfortable. In our attempt to get comfortable we fabricate the secure lives that we live and shut out any life fact that disturbs us. The only reason that we can even contemplate our existence is because we have the ability to contemplate.
Godly Heros
We have a lot of heroes in our world. Some of them are real people and some of them are fictional characters from the imagination of man. Many of the human heroes we have are, sadly, poor role models. Many of the fictitious heroes are also, sadly, evil. I hope this series will allow you to develop God, the creator of the universe, as the supreme hero in your heart, as well as His Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit; the Holy Trinity of life and eternity.
The Bottom Line: I hope you will enjoy this series about God, the Father. More importantly, I hope the Messenger of God series will cause you to read and study the Bible, if you have never read the Bible or studied it. It is the roadmap for our journey and the transition to eternal life.
God Bless You.
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