In childhood I imagine at some point we all asked the innocent question, “What does God look like?” At the time it seemed legitimate. God is a person and every person has a particular look by which we know them, so what about God? However, at some point our study of the Bible leads us to understand that while God is a person He does not carry physical characteristics because He is a spiritual being. In other words He doesn’t have a “look” in the common sense of the term. However, even though He cannot be depicted with physical characteristics there is most definitely a portrait of God painted throughout the Bible depicting the qualities of His nature. A few years ago I preached a sermon about those qualities and it is the subject of today’s sermon starter:
Title: A Precious Portrait of God
Text: John 1:15-18
Main Point: After the ordeal with the golden calf in Exodus 32 there was a time when Moses earnestly plead to God for a personal presence among the people to serve as a sign to them that they had found grace in His sight. God respected the request and promised just that to him but then cited some terms of His promise – Exodus 33:18-23. In that passage the Lord was very specific that He would make his presence known, but that He himself would not be seen, a condition that would remain throughout time (1 John 4:12). To some this is a stumbling-block to faith. They demand empirical evidence and assume that if God has not been seen then the evidence for His existence is not available. This reasoning uses faulty logic, though, because they fail to take into consideration that God provided evidence of who He is through another – He is seen through Jesus. It is, then, by looking at the attributes of Jesus Christ that we are able to see a very precious portrait of God to determine who He is and what He has set about to accomplish.
§ It is a Picture of Eternality – the very existence of this world demands that there have been a being in eternal existence to create it. This is a cornerstone of the Christian faith. Christ, as the picture of God’s eternality, Himself was eternal (John 1:1-3). And just as Christ Himself is pictured as being eternal, God is then proven to be eternal. Considering all the evidence and information about God’s eternality, when we read the first four words of the Bible, they take on new meaning to us – “In the beginning, God…” (Genesis 1:1). David understood and appreciated this great foundational truth when he wrote Psalm 90:1-2. If David’s statement is not proven to be true, then the foundation of our faith is shake and broken. Christ, though, pictures the eternality of the Godhead, thereby stabilizing the truth upon which our faith relies. Thus, in determining who God is, we must first establish the fact of His eternality, for if that fails, so does the very foundation of New Testament Christianity.
§ It is a Picture of Power – The Bible makes no qualms about loudly and proudly proclaiming the omnipotence of Jehovah God (Job 42:1-2; Jeremiah 32:17; Matthew 19:26; Revelation 15:3; Revelation 19:6). It is not enough, though, for that power to be claimed and not shown; thus what examples do we have to truly picture the power of God? First we see the power of God in the creation of all things. Look at the vastness and complexity of the universe and all things therein and then understand that it was all spoken into being by God (Psalm 33:6-9). Second we see the power of God in the harmony of His nature. God cannot lie, be unjust, nor can He force a man to act outside of His free will. It takes a degree of supreme power to be in perfect harmony with all of the traits of deity and only God fits them together perfectly (Ecclesiastes 3:14). Third we see the power of God in the restoration of man. Only an all-powerful being would be able to restore man to his conciliatory position with God through the means enacted, and God did (1 Timothy 2:3-4). We serve a God of supreme power, a power that Christ pictured for us in all that He did.
§ It is a Picture of Love – a portrait of God would not be complete without speaking of His supreme love, a love far too obvious to be able to ignore and tender-heartedly reject (Detueronomy 7:13; Deuteronomy 10:18; Isaiah 63:9; Hosea 11:4; Hosea 14:4; Psalm 33:5; Psalm 37:28; John 3:16; 1 John 4:7-11). And it is that great love that has spanned the history of the world that is pictured for us through Jesus Christ, who He is, and what He has done (John 15:12-14; Romans 5:6-8). Thus in determining who God is, we must also establish the fact of His love, because if that fails so does the very essence of New Testament Christianity.
To see Christ is to see God. These three qualities merely touch the hem of the garment as it pertains to who God is and what He has done and continues to do for mankind. May we ever appreciate the presence of God in our lives and allow it to motivate us to greater service each day!