Niels Prip – Blog

The Nature of God

If you consider all the gods thru history, there is quite a long list. You have the gods of the Hindus, the Greeks, the Norse gods, the Roman gods, the Aztec and Celtic gods, the Japanese and Mayan gods, the Chinese gods, the Babylonian gods and many others. Each having an evil spirit behind them, principalities and powers that all have one common goal, to deceive mankind. All this is the result of rebellion against the one true God, the God of Israel. In Deuteronomy 10:17 we are told “For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and accepting no bribe”.

So, there is one God, who rules over all other gods. Psalm 82 says,

“God presides over the divine assembly, He renders judgment among the gods” You should read the whole Psalm.

The principalities and powers over the nations have all failed God, they have deceived the nations. They have become false gods to try to rival God and to kill the seed of Adam. Those principalities and powers are partial to the wickedness of man, history shows us this. Death and destruction, wars and bloodshed. History is replete with examples. The wickedness of these gods is mostly hidden from view, they are deceivers from the beginning. Their exact nature is hidden from view. Part of their nature has been played out through history thru men like Hitler, Stalin and many others. They are exceedingly wicked.

So, what makes the God of Israel and Christianity different? Well, that is the point of this post. Our God came to earth, He humbled Himself and took on the form of a servant, Jesus the Messiah. Hebrews 1 is a glorious explanation of Jesus- Hebrew 1:3 “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…”.

Ever wonder about the true nature of God? Jesus is the “exact representation” of His nature. In John 1:18 we read the same thing. “No one has seen God [His essence, His divine nature] at any time; the [One and] only begotten God [that is, the unique Son] who is in the intimate presence of the Father, He has explained Him [and interpreted and revealed the awesome wonder of the Father]”.

Here we have what other gods don’t have! In Jesus we have the nature of God shown forth! What a wonder He is! We can proclaim what it says in Exodus 15:11 ““Who is like You among the gods, LORD? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders?”.

Our God has shown forth His nature in Jesus. He has shown forth His nature in His creation. The principalities and powers have shown forth their nature through their wickedness, through the wickedness of man. Let us look for, and hasten the coming day of our Lord!!! Let us strive to be filled with His spirit and to be like our brother, the Lord Jesus. Let us strive to be conformed to the image of Christ!