THE PERSONALITY OF GOD by G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 12, 1902

THE PERSONALITY OF GOD.

By G.

The Scriptures represent God as a being of form, parts, and attributes. He is not an imaginary being; His very name is I AM. “God created man in His own image,” and an image is a material likeness, a visible representation. The Son, the “firstborn of every creature,” is the “express image of His person.”

Being a person, God must have place; so the Scriptures tell us that He has a habitation. “The Lord looketh from heaven; He beholdeth all the sons of men. From the place of His habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth.” Ps. 33:13, 14. “Hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling place; and when Thou hearest, forgive.” 1 Kings 8:30. “Unto Thee lift I up my eyes, O Thou that dwellest in the heavens.” Ps. 123:1. God puts contrast between the place where He dwells and the earth: “Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few.” Eccl. 5:2. After this manner our Lord taught His disciples to pray: “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Matt. 6:9, 10.

God was in the earthly tabernacle, but it was by representation. No house of man's building could contain Him in person. Stephen said: “Solomon built Him an house. Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands.” Acts 7:47, 48. When the Jews rejected Stephen's testimony, “he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.” Jesus had gone from earth to heaven, as He Himself had said, “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.” John 16:28. See also ch. 14:2, 3.

Another evidence of God's personality is that He is a King over personal intelligences. “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever.” 1 Tim. 1:17. Being a real King, He has a definite throne. “The Lord's throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids try, the children of men.” Ps. 11:4; Isa. 66:1. Christ, our high priest, is “set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” Heb. 8:1, 2.

Not only has God a kingdom and a definite throne, but He is to give Christ a kingdom. See Dan. 7:13, 14.

Christ is called God, because He has inherited the name of His Father, as every other son does; but His personality is not therefore to be confounded with that of the Father, who says to Him, “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; the scepter of Thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness; therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.” Ps. 45:6, 7. So Christ can make the promise, “To him that overcometh will I grant to

sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne.” Rev. 3:21. Then He will have delivered up the kingdom in which He is associated with the Father, to assume the throne of David. “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David; and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” Luke 1:32, 33. This is also in fulfilment of a promise made to David himself concerning his Seed. See Acts 2:29-31.

Hardly any one who claims to believe that the Word of God has any literal significance at all will dispute that the New Jerusalem will be a material city. It will be one that mortal men, under the leadership of Satan and His angels, will endeavor to capture. Rev. 20:5-9. The city will come down from God out of heaven. “I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.” Rev. 21:3. The city is made of material things, and is fully described in this and the following chapters.

God's throne is wherever God is in person. It was once on Mount Sinai for a short time, and the law went from it in the form of the Ten Commandments. So when God shall dwell in the New Jerusalem, His throne will be there. There will be two thrones in the city, the throne of God and the throne of the Lamb. The earth will be the most highly honored part of the universe, because of its being the site of the great final victory over Satan and sin. There will be the Father's throne, the seat of government of the entire universe; and there will be the throne of the Son, who will reign over all the earth.

Sometimes we are told that these Bible truths are “gross materialism.” But all Scripture truth deals with the material universe, especially with this material earth, and the salvation of its material inhabitants. This earth is to be purified with material fire, as it was once destroyed by material water; then it will become a new material earth, “wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Peter 3:13. Righteousness can not dwell where there are no real intellectual beings. So when the saints come up in the resurrection, they will have bodies—spiritual bodies, as was Adam's before he sinned; and these bodies will be made immortal because of their having overcome sin through faith in Jesus Christ. See 1 Cor. 15:35-57.

But is not God a spirit?—Yes, God has a spiritual body; and mortal men with their spiritual eyes opened have seen hosts of spiritual bodies. We “see through a glass darkly” with our sin-bedimmed natural eyes. Again we are asked, Is not God in everything? Does He not dwell in us, and work in us “to will and to do of His good pleasure”? Certainly He does, but how? “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” 1 Cor. 3:16. But the Spirit of God is not God Himself. “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God?” God works by His Spirit, and through His ministers (or angels). We read that in the very beginning “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Gen. 1:2. Again the Lord says, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” Ch. 6:3.

When Christ went from earth, He sent His Spirit to comfort us and guide us in the way of truth. It was expedient for Him to go away in order that this Comforter and Guide could come to remain permanently. John 14:16, 17, 26; 16:13-16. By this agency Christ is with us alway, altho absent in person for a time. “When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me.” Ch. 15:26. Paul's prayer was that the brethren might be strengthened with might by the Spirit of the Father in the inner man, that Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith. See Eph. 3:14-17. Moreover all true Christians are “builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” Ch. 2:20-22.

God is manifest in His works. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork;” but He is in the things He makes and propels just in the sense that a man is in the mechanism of His hand. His wisdom, His skill, His power, and His purpose are in the things He makes and sustains. They bear the marks of His workmanship. To put God Himself into the creatures of His hand is to ignore all His agencies. Such a view but paves the way for worshiping the creature rather than the Creator. He is a “God of hosts,” and saith to one servant, Do this, and he doeth it; and to another, Do that, and he doeth it. The happiness of His creatures depends upon their being laborers together with Him in every field of divine industry, under the direction of His all-seeing eye. “He maketh His angels winds, and His ministers a flame of fire.” Heb. 1:7. “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” Verse 14.