People all over the world view God in different ways. Our perceptions of God and His ways tend to show up in our words and actions. Since we are created as offspring of God and designed to live as His “image and likeness,” (a) [see endnotes for Scriptures] many tend to think He is just like us. Scripture however says our messed up versions of Him are a far cry from who He really is.
Scripture describes our heavenly Father as “omnipotent” (almighty), (b) “omnipresent” (ever-present), (c) “omniscient” (all knowing), (d) and “invisible.” (e) Our views of the Eternal One can be somewhat limited by our life in this temporal realm. So we ask, who is the Eternal One?
Describing God
Our Bible declares the Eternal Deity is not like our limited views of Him; “I am God, and there is no one like me.” (f) One righteous man asked, “Can you discover the depths of God…the limits of the Almighty?” (g) God even clarifies, “For I am God, and not man.” (h) Since the Creator is the source of all life, (i) He is obviously much more than what He creates and any of His offspring.
When God spoke and asked Moses to be His representative savior, (j) Moses asked, who shall I say sent me? The voice of God responded, “I Am Who I Am.” (k) God reiterated the perspective several times by declaring to creation, “I am the first and I am the last.” (l) He simply is and has always been!
In the last book of the Bible, the voice of Jesus repeated the phrase: “I am the Alpha and Omega …who is and who was and who is to come.” (m) This phrasing starts with the present tense “is” to amplify that while He has come and will come, He is actually always present.
It is the ever-present characteristic of God that enables Him to see all the progressions of time. “With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (n) The come-and-go fractures of times past or future does not escape His view; “The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator…does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable (infinite).” (o)
What about the many ideas, religious symbols, and rituals that we use to describe, illustrate, and worship God? He is able to look beyond our tainted perceptions, limitations, and imperfections. Scripture verifies His amazing ability to hear and respond to the intention of our heart. (p)
Scripture verifies God’s amazing ability to hear and respond to the intention of our heart.
Love and Light
The Apostle John’s first-hand experience with Jesus equipped him to start his Epistle with: “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” (q) Darkness cannot exist in light because light dispels darkness. The action of God-Light does not even produce the hint of a “shifting shadow.” (r)
John also declares that “God is love.” (s) This equates God-Light and God-Love as merging features. The essence of God and His expressions are closely intertwined with love and light. God is loving-light and enlightening-love. This is why John states, “the one who loves…abides in the light.” (t)
While light enables clearer sight, 
love enables better interaction. Expressing one without the other misses its real purpose and is ineffective. Any perception or expression that does not include both love and light is tainted with error. Jeremiah said “The Lord’s loving-kindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” (u)
It is helpful to realize that hate and darkness are features that only exist in this created world, where love and light appear to be absent. (v) The only appearance of power in darkness is its ability to remain out of the light. Love has the same powerful effect, where and when love abides, hate is absent. Shining light in love is very powerful and penetrating; it always dispels hate and darkness.
God declares “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…For as the heavens are higher than earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (w) When we think God is like us with our ability to hate and dwell in darkness, we tend to diminish His greatness and lend credibility to our inappropriate thoughts and behavior.
Scripture speaks of darkness as a lack of understanding. Without light, we “sit and walk in darkness.” (x) Sadly, some even “love the darkness rather than the light.” (y)
Since the Eternal One’s essence ‘is’ Light and Love, we can say the expressions of God-Light and God-Love are only loving and enlightening. His love for us is immeasurable, inexhaustible, and steadfast. As offspring and children of God, how loving and enlightening are our expressions?
The expressions of God-Light and God-Love are only loving and enlightening.
God’s Three Personalities
Although we cannot discover all the marvels of our heavenly Father, we can see and appreciate His amazing appearances. We can even understand why the Eternal One referred to Himself during the creation account as a plurality: “Let us…in our…according to our.” (z) God’s existence is revealed to us in many ways and more intently as three expressive personalities:
1. As Father: The Eternal One is the source of life, who oversees our birth and growth.
2. As Son: God illustrates His image and likeness, so we can perceive His objective in us.
3. As Holy Spirit: God’s guiding and gifting presence is with us, among us, and in our midst.
It was God’s spoken word (logos) that created this natural realm and everything in it. (aa) Then, two thousand years ago His spoken expression (logos) impregnated the womb of a woman to become God’s unique son, Jesus Christ. (bb) While many have seen expressions of the Eternal One, “No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten (Jesus)…has explained (revealed, illustrated) Him.” (cc) The Eternal One however is more than either one of His expressions.
As we receive God-light and God-Love, we experience transformations. (dd) An abundance of light and love brings a much clearer understanding of our maturing purpose in this temporal world. “You were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light.” (ee)
God desires to interact with us as a loving and enlightening presence, so we learn of Him and mature as cherished children into the unique expression we are all created to be. (ff) God is not blind regarding our misgivings and short-comings. As our exceptional Father He chooses to forgive us and not focus on our faults. “Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious…because He delights in unchanging love.” (gg)
While God accepts us as we are, He desires us to mature and become more like Him. May we not refuse more insightful light and remain confused and captivated by what we currently believe. Let us seek to see more clearly who the Eternal One is, so we can become better reflections and resemblances of His image and likeness.
While God accepts us as we are, He desires us to mature and become more like Him.
a) Genesis 1:27; b) Genesis 17:1; Romans 4:17-24; c) Jeremiah 23:23-24; Psalm 139:7-16; d) Isaiah 40:13-14; e) Colossians 1:15; f) Isaiah 46:9; g) Job 11:7; h) Hosea 11:9; i) Acts 17:28; j) Acts 7:34-35; k) Exodus 3:13-14; l) Isaiah 44:6; 41:4; 48:12; m) Revelation 1:4, 8; 22:12-13; n) 2 Peter 3:8; o) Isaiah 40:28; Psalms 147:5; p) 1 Kings 8:39; q) 1 John 1:5; r) James 1:17; s) 1 John 4:8; t) 1 John 2:10; u) Lamentations 3:22-23; v) Genesis 1:3-5; w) Isaiah 55:8-9; x) Luke 1:79; Isaiah 9:2; Acts 26:18; y) John 3:19-21; z) Genesis 1:26; aa) John 1:1-3; bb) Mathew 1:18-23; Luke 1:26-35; cc) Exodus 33:20; 1 John 4:12; John 1:18; dd) Romans 12:2; ee) Ephesians 5:8; ff) John 1:12; Genesis 1:26; gg) Micah 7:18
Keith Carroll, “The Relationship Guy”
Relational Gospel Founder
Created To Relate author