The GOD of The Bible
Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: [b]The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
Galatians 3:20 Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.
God is holy … find passages
Psalm 7:11 God is a just judge, And God is angry with the wicked every day.
John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
GOD IS ALL-LOVING
1 John 4:8 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
1 John 4:16 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a 4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails….
IF God is love, THEN … 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 can tell us something about God … and, by replacing the word “love” with the word “God”, we notice that …
God suffers long and God is kind; God does not envy; God does not parade Himself, God is not puffed up; God does not behave rudely, God does not seek His own, God is not provoked, God thinks no evil; God does not rejoice in iniquity, but God rejoices in the truth; God bears all things, God believes all things, God hopes all things, God endures all things. God never fails ….
Psalm 13:5, in the NKJV, says, “But I have trusted in Your mercy; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.”
But notice how that passage is rendered in some other versions of the Bible …
- NCV … I trust in your love. My heart is happy because you saved me.
- NET … But I trust in your faithfulness. May I rejoice because of your deliverance.
- NIRV … But I trust in your faithful love. My heart is filled with joy because you will save me.
- NIV … But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
- NLV … But I have trusted in Your loving-kindness. My heart will be full of joy because You will save me.
- NLT … But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me.
- NRSVA … But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
How does God’s LOVE manifest itself?
- … in His provision and protection, but also in His compassion and mercy.
- The word “mercy” occurs 222/276 (OT/NT) in the NKJV of the Bible.
- Let’s look at some instances where compassion and mercy are used in reference to God.
Micah 7:19 19 He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
Psalm 100:5 For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.
Psalm 106:1 Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
Lamentations 3:31-33 For the Lord will not cast off forever. 32 Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. 33 For He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
Acts 10:34-35 34 Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. 35 But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.
2 Peter 3:9 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
GOD IS ALL-KNOWING
Psalm 139
O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
3 You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
5 You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
13 For You formed my inward parts;
You [f]covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for [g]I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 My [h]frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.
19 Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God!
Depart from me, therefore, you [i]bloodthirsty men.
20 For they speak against You wickedly;
[j]Your enemies take Your name in vain.
21 Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
22 I hate them with [k]perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
24 And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.
1 John 3:20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done ….
GOD IS ALL-POWERFUL
Isaiah 46:10-11 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’ 11 Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed, I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it.
Isaiah 14:24 24 The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, “Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, And as I have purposed, so it shall stand:
Job 23:13 “But He is unique, and who can make Him change? And whatever His soul desires, that He does.
Psalm 115:3 But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases.
Psalm 135:6 Whatever the Lord pleases He does, In heaven and in earth, In the seas and in all deep places.
Matthew 19:26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
Luke 1:36-37 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.