WHAT IS GOD REALLY LIKE?

EXODUS 34:5-9: “The LORD came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed his name, “the LORD.”  (6)  The LORD passed in front of him and proclaimed: The LORD—the LORD is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth,  (7)  maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. .  (8)  Moses immediately knelt low on the ground and worshiped.  (9)  Then he said, “My Lord, if I have indeed found favor with you, my Lord, please go with us (even though this is a stiff-necked people), forgive our iniquity and our sin, and accept us as your own possession.”

OBSERVATION: What is God like? If you went out into the streets and asked random people you would get a myriad of different answers. Many would not believe that God exists. Some would view God as mean and angry just waiting to make our lives miserable. While others would view God as someone who loves everyone regardless of what they believe or what they do?

What is God really like?

This is a very important question. Our concept of God will determine everything. It will determine our faith, our values, and our actions. If we dismiss the reality of our Creator then we will live a life creating our own rules and reality. If we view God as a harsh judge we will fear coming to Him and live in continual guilt and shame. If we see God as love defined by tolerance we will live our life doing whatever we want under the covering of cheap grace.

What is God really like?

Moses was called to meet God once again on Mt. Sinai to renew the covenant and for God to rewrite the tablets of stone that Moses had broken when he came down the mountain and saw the children of Israel worshipping the golden calf. It was a do-over. The Israelites had quickly slipped into idolatry, the very first thing God warned them about, and faced God’s judgment. Yet, God, in His mercy, was giving Israel another chance (and He would continue to extend His mercy time after time).

I think it is interesting that God goes back to the very beginning with Moses as He calls Moses to the mountain the second time. He does not assume anything. He begins with a reintroduction of His name and then reminds Moses of His nature and character.

“The LORD came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed his name, “the LORD.”  (6)  The LORD passed in front of him and proclaimed: The LORD—the LORD is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth,  (7)  maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.” 

First – He revealed His Covenant Name, Yahweh. “I Am that I Am”is the one speaking to Moses. He is the Creator of all things. He is the existing One who is before all things. Yahweh alone is God!

Second – He reveals the true nature of His heart. Yahweh is “…compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in faithful love and truth.” He is the source of all truth and His truth is the essence of love. Love is not love as our culture echoes today. Love is the very nature of God in His truth. If you do not have truth you do not have love. Love without truth is a deception and will lead to a pathway of destruction.

Proverbs 16:25: “There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.”

Third – He reveals His nature in action. “…maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin.“ God’s desire is to love, forgive, and restore. We see this in the revelation of Jesus Christ and His life and ministry.

John 3:16-17: “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.  (17)  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

God the Father did not send Jesus to the world to condemn the world. He sent Jesus to save the world. He sent His only begotten Son to pay the penalty of our sin through His death on the cross. He raised Jesus from the dead to open the doors of heaven to all who would believe. This is the true heart and nature of God. This is the continuing heart and ministry of Jesus!

1 John 1:7-9: “If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.  (8)  If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  (9)  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Fourth – God is a God of righteous judgment. While it is God’s “strange work” to bring judgment – His holiness, righteousness, and justice demand it. God does not delight in men and women falling into judgment. He did not create hell for people. He created hell for Satan and his fallen angels. Yet, if God is love, true love demands justice. He has done everything for us to avoid this judgment through Jesus Christ. Yet, apart from Christ, there is no forgiveness of sin and no escape from judgment and eternal damnation.

“But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.”

John 3:18-19: “Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.  (19)  This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.”

Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

How should we respond to such a holy, loving, and just God? There is only one response that we can have. It is complete humility in repentance and worship. It is to receive the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ the Lord. It is to humbly fall before Him in worship thanking Him for His grace, love, and mercy.

“Moses immediately knelt low on the ground and worshiped.  (9)  Then he said, “My Lord, if I have indeed found favor with you, my Lord, please go with us (even though this is a stiff-necked people), forgive our iniquity and our sin, and accept us as your own possession.”

God is a good God. He is a loving God. He is a forgiving God. Yet, He is a just God. He has provided every means of pardon and forgiveness through the gift of His Son Jesus Christ the Lord. He does not want anyone to perish. Yet, the choice is ours. We can humble ourselves, repent of our sins, and receive His free gift or we can harden our hearts and ultimately face the judgment of a Holy and righteous God who must punish sin.

God punished sin in Jesus Christ on the cross. Yet, if we ignore the cross, if we turn away from God’s love, we will pay the penalty for our sins. Paul reminds us – “…the wages of sin is death…” Wages are something that are earned. The only way one will face God’s judgment and holy justice is to fail to embrace His gift of love and mercy through Jesus Christ.

“…but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.”

2 Corinthians 5:19-21: “That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us…He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

This is who God is. This is what God is like. This is not my opinion but it is God, the Eternal Creator’s own words telling us who He is. There is not a God of the Old Testament and a God of the New Testament. There is one God, eternal, holy, compassionate, merciful, loving, forgiving, and just. His heart, His nature, and His desire are revealed from the opening verses of Genesis through the closing words in the book of Revelation.

2 Peter 3:8-10: ” But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  (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.  (10)  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.”

God’s hand is extended to all who will repent and believe. He is not willing that any should perish. He takes no pleasure in the judgment of His creation. Yet, a day of judgment is coming. The time is short. Today is the day of salvation.

Today is the day to repent and believe the Good News of Jesus Christ!

In Jesus’ Name!