Knowing God

The Bible teaches that there is only one God. (Isaiah 43:10). He is an existent and loving God who created man for relationship. Importantly, He is a sovereign, infinite Spirit who created the heaven and earth and has dominion over them. Having an intimate knowledge of who God is gives us confidence in Him as the source of our life and existence.

God manifests Himself in three divine persons, The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches that the Father is God (Exodus 3:14), that Jesus is God (John 8:58), and that the Holy Spirit is God (Acts 5:3-4).

The single clearest declaration of the existence of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit is found in I John 5: 1-12, 20:

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Whoever loves the Father also loves the child who is born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three who testify in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that testify on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and the three agree as one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is God's testimony which he has testified concerning his Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who doesn't believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. The testimony is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has the life. He who doesn't have God's Son doesn't have the life... We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
I John 5:1-12, 20

God the Father refers to the first Person in the Trinity. He is reverenced as the Father of redeemed and saved people. Jesus taught us to pray to the "Father," (Matthew 6:9, 14, 26). The Bible reveals God as "the God and Father of the Lord Jesus" (2 Cor. 11:31).

Jesus Christ, or the “Son” was the fullness of the Godhead bodily “for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily”(Col 2:9). The Bible continues the description of Jesus in Hebrews 1:3 “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

Jesus is the only-begotten Son of God. He claimed to be God in the scriptures, and He is equal with God. We read of His claim in the gospel of John (John 3:16-18), and the disciples also identified Him as the Son of God in their writings (John 1:1-12 and Phil 2:5-11).

“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8).

" For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. " John 3:16-18

" In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God ." .." John 1:1-12 (NIV)

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father." (Phillipians 2:5 -11)

The Comforter, or the Holy Spirit, was sent to guide all who believe in Christ and give them the divine power and grace needed to walk the Christian life “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come (John 16:13).

Let's review other scriptures to document the Holy Spirit as God:

"God is Spirit"(John 4:24).

"Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Corinthians 3:17).

There is one body and one Spirit" (Ephesians 4:4).

"For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father" (Ephesians 2:18).

"For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free - and have all been made to drink into one Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:13).

"But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Romans 8:9).

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?" (Psalm 139:7).

"Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as His counsellor has taught Him?" (Isaiah 40:13).

"For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?

Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God" (1 Corinthians 2:10-11).

"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9:14).

"And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth" (1 John 5:6).

"And now the Lord GOD and His Spirit have sent Me" (Isaiah 48:16).

"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you" (John 14:26).

"But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me" (John 15:26).

1. THE NAMES, ATTRIBUTES, AND CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD

The names of God are important to us because from them we learn of His awesomeness, supremacy, power, capability, character, and person. Scripture not only reveals the personality of God, but also helps to understand His nature. This knowledge is formed when one understands the scope of His ability and power. We will gain an insight into who God is through a study of His characteristics, essence, names, and attributes. This account is small and limited in regards to the many attributres, names, and characteristics of God.

God is Jehovah Shalom

God is Jehovah Shammah

God is Jehovah Tsidkenu

God is Jehovah Rophe

God is Jehovah Saboath

God is Jehovah Rohi

God is Jehovah M'ikaddesh

Jehovah or Yahweh is the covenant name of God. "The Self-Existent One," "I AM WHO I AM" or 'I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE" as revealed to Moses at the burning bush. Some additional derivatives of Jehovah are listed in this topic.

3. GOD IS WITH US

4. GOD IS MY STRENGTH

5. THE ESSENCE OF GOD'S LOVE

6. THE FAVOR OF GOD

7. HOLY SPIRIT HERE I AM