John 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?

Yesterday I laid out five foundational truths about God that never change. My warning to you was that if your thinking does not allow you to see God being true in all these aspects in any moment, then you are not seeing God in Truth.

God sent His Son so that we might see Him. He begs us, “See Me!” You have to see Him for who He is and not for what you want Him to be. I do understand that at that moment of personal torment all you want is a Savior and He is your Savior, but that is not the only thing He is to us.

The gospel is simple and easily understood so that we might come to Him in the simplest of ways. He did not make it difficult. Along with this salvation comes a change of heart and that is just the beginning of complexities, not based on who God is but rather on what we were and are meant to become. If we cannot keep focused on who God is in character and performance, our minds will become filled with error.

I gave you those five foundational truths as a guide to judge your thinking, and my own. It is not always easy to how God can be all those things equally at all times. When we say God cannot we are judging Him based on our own ability to perform and understand. That is not seeing God. We cannot see God through the filter of our own abilities.

Foundational Truths

The demands for foundational truths are necessary in order to identify a proper understanding of content and context of scripture, whether historical or allegorical. If conclusions drawn by the text lead you to an understanding of God that is something other than these foundational truths about God, then your understand is imperfect and further prayerful study is required. While I list these foundational truths about God they are not set in order of importance.  They are all equally true, no one characteristic is more important than another.

1. God is Holy. Sin does not exist in God nor can it exist in His presence.
2. God is love. Agape love, God’s love is pure, without any selfish intent.
3. God is just. Since God is Holy sin must be dealt with, justice is demanded.
4. God is merciful. We are saved by grace and that is a gift from God, unmerited, unearned.
5. God is true. God neither lies, nor tempts. All God’s promises are real, He will keep His word.

Note that I did not list any of the omni words. Only omnipotent appears in the King James version, meaning almighty, ruler of all things, and does not appear in the New International Version at all. The reason I left them out is that while they convey a sense of what God is capable of doing, they will not indicate if you are having an improper understanding of scripture. The same applies to the Jehovah characteristics of God. God may act within any one of those characteristics at any time, but not present Himself as another. These five truths about God will remain true at all times.

Malachi 3:6a For I am the LORD, I change not.

Quote from Bible 101 by Larry Perry