Who Is God?

The Bible says a great deal about who God is and how He has revealed Himself. Here are six facts about God you need to know:

1. He eternally exists in three persons.

The truth about God begins with the fact that He always exists as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When we say that, we mean that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, but they are not three gods but only one God. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, the Spirit is not the Father, but each is God individually and yet they are together the one true God of the Bible. This is called the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

Someone asked American statesman Daniel Webster, “How can a man of your intellect believe in the Trinity?” “I do not pretend fully to understand the arithmetic of heaven now,” he replied. That’s a good phrase—the arithmetic of heaven.

The Trinity should cause us to bow in humility before a God who is greater than our minds could ever comprehend. We have a God who has provided everything necessary for our salvation. When we were lost in sin, our God acted in every person of His being to save us. The Father gave the Son, the Son offered Himself on the cross, and the Holy Spirit draws us to Jesus.

“No gift could be greater than the love of God.”

2. He is the sovereign Lord.

To call God “sovereign” means that He is the Ultimate Ruler of the universe. There is no one higher than He is. He answers to no one but everyone must one day answer to him. God is the purest, simplest, most basic being in the universe. He is a personal God—not an impersonal force. Because He is infinite, He is not subject to time, corruption, or decay. Because He is eternal, He is always present everywhere in the universe. He is the “unmoved mover,” “the uncaused first cause,” and the source of all that is. He is the power behind all other power.

His character is unchanging—and therefore entirely dependable. What He says, He will do. Because He has the only truly “free will” in the universe, He does whatever He pleases, yet He never acts in an arbitrary fashion, but only in conformity with His own perfect character. “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him” (Psalm 115:3).

God is holy, which means He is utterly pure, free from all evil, totally without blame or error. Holiness is what makes God God. He never lowers His standards, never compromises, and makes no “deals.” All that He does is right, just, and good. “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just” (Deuteronomy 32:4). There is no falsehood in Him or from Him. He makes the rules, and no one can object. He Himself is the final standard of right and wrong. Therefore, everything He says about you and me is true.

3. He created all things.

God designed everything that is; He initiated creation and personally brought all things into being. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). The universe did not happen by chance, accident, or by the random collision of cells. It is not the product of random evolution. God spoke and the universe came into being. He is so powerful that He is the source of all things—living and nonliving. All things were made by Him, and all things exist at this moment by His powerful word (Hebrews 11:3). This means that He personally created you, that you were put on this earth for a reason, and that the highest purpose of your life is to know the God who made you. Think about that for a moment. The God who can create anything created you! And He wants you to know Him personally.

4. He made you in His image.

You were made to know God. Something in you truly wants to know the God who created you. That desire may be hidden deep within, or you may feel it burning inside you at this moment. Perhaps you have tried to cover it up or to satisfy your longings with the things of this world. But that doesn’t work. You were made with desires that nothing in this world can satisfy. Only God can fill the hole in your heart. Only God can love you the way you long to be loved.

5. He knows all about you.

Theologians call this “omniscience,” which simply means that God knows everything— the past, the present, and the future. He is never caught by surprise by anything that happens anywhere in the universe. Nothing is hidden from Him. That includes your secret thoughts, your dreams, and your unfulfilled desires. He knows your words before you speak them and your thoughts before you think them. “Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord” (Psalm 139:4). He knows where you were last night and who you were with. He knows the whole story of your life—the good, the bad, and the ugly. What about those secret things that no one else knows about? He knows them all, and He knows them completely.

“The God who can create anything created you! And He wants you to know Him personally.”

6. He cares about you.

The Bible tells us that “God is love” (1 John 4:16). He is perfect, infinite, unconditional love. His love is freely given. It is not a reward for good behavior because no one can ever “earn” God’s love. The greatest gifts in life are the ones we don’t deserve. No gift could be greater than the love of God. The Bible declares that God loves the unlovely. We shook our fists at God and sinned against Him. The amazing news is that God even loves His enemies (Romans 5:6–8). While we were sinners, God demonstrated His love by sending His Son to the earth to die for us.

We need to know a God who loves us like that. To miss knowing this God is to miss the central truth of the universe. It’s like visiting Rome and seeing everything but St. Peter’s Square. It’s like traveling to Washington, D.C., and seeing everything but the White House. It’s like going to Paris and seeing everything but the Eiffel Tower. Or it’s like going to the Super Bowl and watching everything but the football game.