God's Nature

Genesis 1:27 -- God created humankind in His own image. In the image of God, He created humankind -- male and female created He them. [JHK’s reading of this verse: Man is not the image of God, nor is Woman alone; rather it is Man and Woman together in “one flesh” marriage that is the true image of God, because only together do they share in God’s divine creativity at the highest level -- the creation of other humans! Furthermore, the Fall of Humankind was not by a man alone or a woman alone, but by a couple; so the ultimate Restoration of Humankind cannot be by either a man or a woman alone, but only by a couple, according to God’s Original Purpose of Creation.]

Genesis 6:5-8 -- The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great throughout the Earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made humankind on the Earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, “I will destroy humankind whom I have created from the face of the Earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, because I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. [Many lessons are found here! “The Lord does not see as people see, for people look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7b) See also Isaiah 55:8-9. And 1 Kings 8:39 -- “You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men.” * The Lord knows and judges us according to our hearts, rather than by outward appearance. * God’s Nature is essentially Heart & Love, so He feels sorrow and grief because of the sins of humans. See also 1 Samuel 15:10-11 -- “Now the Word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, ‘I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, because he has turned back from following Me and has not performed My commandments.’” * God will destroy sin & evil, but there is always a remnant. Modern science teaches us that there have been “Five Great Extinctions” in the story of life on Earth, and we are now in the early stages of the Sixth Great Extinction.]

Genesis 18:16-33 -- Abraham intercedes with God on behalf of Sodom, just as does Moses intercedes with God on behalf of the people in Numbers 14:11-25.

Exodus 3:6 & 15 -- I am the God of your fathers -- the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations. [JHK Note: God does not say, “I am the God of Adam,” because Adam failed to follow God’s Word. Enoch walked with God and so God took him, but He does not say, “I am the God of Enoch.” Nor does He say, “I am the God of Noah, even though Noah was obedient to God’s Word and saved himself and his family through his steadfast faith throughout the hundred years it took him to build the Ark. We all regard Abraham as the “Father of Faith,” but God does not say, “I am the God of Abraham.” Why, then, does God say more than once, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?” It’s because God wants FAMILY, tradition, and generational wisdom and fidelity. Just as Abraham proved his absolute love for and obedience to God in offering his “only” son Isaac, Isaac bonded totally with his father at that same moment by not complaining at the prospect of being sacrificed by having his throat slit and then being burned by fire. We know that “Esau despised his birthright,” but Jacob was wise enough to bargain with him for a pot of lentil soup and then received God’s Blessing to Abraham passed down to him through Isaac with the help of his mother Rebekah.]

Exodus 3:14 -- I AM WHO I AM. [JHK Note: I read this as meaning that God is BEING, unique and self existent.

Exodus 15:3 -- The Lord is a man of war.

Exodus 16:7-8 -- The Lord hears your complaints which you make against Him.

Exodus 19:5-6 -- If you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. [JHK: Notice the “If .. then ..” and apply this promise to America today.] [Regarding “all the earth is Mine,” see also Psalm 24:1 (The earth is the Lord’s and all it’s fullness, the world and those that dwell therein.), 50:12 (The world is Mine and all its fullness), and 1 Corinthians 10:26.]

Exodus 20:5 -- I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments. [JHK Note: This is part of the Ten Commandments and is repeated in Deuteronomy 5:9-10.] [JHK asks: Does God grow in wisdom and understanding as He learns how to deal with his sinning and rebellious children? Contrast

Exodus 24:17 -- The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. * Hebrews 12:29 -- Our God is a consuming fire.

Exodus 34:14 -- “The Lord, whose name is Jealous, is  jealous God.” [Compare Deuteronomy 4:24.]

Exodus 34:5-7 -- The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with Moses there and proclaimed the Name of the Lord. … “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” [Repeated by Moses in Numbers 14:18] [See also Jeremiah 31:18-19 -- You show lovingkindness to thousands and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them -- the Great, the Mighty God, whose Name is the Lord of hosts. You are great in counsel and mighty in work, for Your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.]  

Numbers 14:11-25 -- Moses intercedes with God on behalf of the people, just as Abraham intercedes with God on behalf of Sodom in Genesis 18:16-33.

Numbers 25:1-15 -- God inflicts the children of Israel with a plague because they have committed fornication and adultery with foreign women, but one man’s quick action wins God’s heart and blessing: “Phinehas the son of Eleazer, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal. Therefore say, ‘Behold! I give to him My covenant of peace, and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the children of Israel.’” [JHK: Note especially the importance of lineage and of three generations.]  

Deuteronomy 4:24 -- The Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Deuteronomy 6:4 -- Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one!

Deuteronomy 9:3 -- Understand today that the Lord your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them [a people great and tall, the descendants of the Anakim] and bring them down before you, so you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the Lord has said to you. [God as Leader, Warrior, and Destroyer]

Deuteronomy 32:1-43 -- In this long Song of Moses, God is depicted as our Father and the people as rebellious children: “Our God is the Rock. His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice, righteous and upright is He.” (32:3-4) “The Lord’s portion is His people. Jacob is the place of His inheritance.” (32:9) * Many of Moses’ condemnations of Israel could apply to America today. “But Jeshurun grew fat and … obese! He forsook God who made him and scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation.” (32:15) “Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful and have forgotten the God who fathered you.” (32:18) “They are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faith. They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God. They have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols.” (32:20-21) “For they are a nation void of counsel, nor is there any understanding in them. Oh, that they were wise! That they understood this! That they would consider their latter end!” * God’s Nature includes Judgment -- both Vengeance and Atonement: “Vengeance is Mine and recompense!” (32:35) “For the Lord will judge His people.” (32:36) “See that I, even I, am He; and there is no God besides Me! I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand.” (32:39) “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His servants and render vengeance to His adversaries. He will provide Atonement for His land and his people.” (32:43)

Joshua 1:9 -- God accompanies those He chooses, as with Joshua: “Be strong and of good courage! Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, the Lord your God is with you wherever you go!”

1 Samuel 2:2 -- “No one is holy like the Lord, for there is none besides You, nor is there any Rock like our God!” [That God is holy and expects His people to be holy is a major theme throughout the Bible. See Matthew 5:48 -- “Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.]

1 Samuel 15:22-23 -- Samuel said to Saul: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the Voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. Rebellion is similar to the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the Word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.” [JHK Note: Consider the word “because.” God is a reasonable God, so He has reasons for what He does; and He gives us reason so that we can understand Him.]

1 Samuel 16:1-13 -- In the story of God sending Samuel to anoint David as King of Israel after the failure of Saul, God admonishes Samuel as follows: “Do not look at his appearance or his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

1 Chronicles 29:10-20 -- This is David’s Song of Praise to God just before his son Solomon is anointed king and David’s demise. David as King of Israel and a man after God’s own heart is a type for Jesus and clearly speaks of the “Lord God” as “our Father forever and ever.” (29:10) “You test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things to You; and now with joy, I have seen Your people, who are present here to offer willingly to you.” (29:17) David’s passion for the people here is a prelude to Jesus’s passion for his disciples and all future believers found in John 17 -- “I pray for them .. I have given them your Word .. Keep them from the evil one .. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is Truth.”

Psalm 19 -- “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork.” (19:1) “The law of the Lord is perfect .. The Testimony of the Lord is sure .. The statutes of the Lord are right .. The commandment of the Lord is pure .. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever .. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogther .. sweeter than honey and the honeycomb .. Let the words of my mouth and the mediation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer.” (19:7-14) [Compare

Psalm 23 -- [This is one of the best known, most beloved, and most memorized of Bible passages.] “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want ..”

Psalm 27:1 -- The Lord is my light and my salvation! Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life! Of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalm 28:7 -- “The Lord is my Strength and my Shield.”

Psalm 68:5 -- “A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation.”

Psalm 100:5 -- The Lord is good! His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.” [Jesus says in Matthew 19:17, “No one is good but One, that is, God.”]

Psalm 103 -- “Bless the Lord, O my soul!” (103:1) “The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.” (103:6) “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not .. keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the Earth, so great is His mercy towards those who fear Him. As far as the East is from the West, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him; for He knows our frame and remembers that we are dust.” (103:6-14)

Psalm 111 -- “Praise the Lord! I will praise the Lord with my whole heart!” (111:1) [“Wholeheartedness” is a key virtue with the Lord God. Saul was wholeheartedly wrong in persecuting early followers of “the Way,” but became Paul, the chosen disciple to carry the Gospel to the Gentiles, once Jesus turned his heart in the right direction. Peter denied Jesus three times, but became the strongest of disciples after Jesus’s Resurrection and restoration of Peter in John 21:15-19. See Revelation 3:15-16 -- “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot; but because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” ]

Psalm 118:5-6 -- I called on the Lord in distress! The Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.  The Lord is on my side! I will not fear! What can man do to me? [See Hebrews 13:6]

Psalm 133 -- “Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! .. For there the Lord commanded the Blessing -- Life forevermore!” [This psalm commemorates the anointing of older brother Aaron as High Priest by younger brother Moses, because Aaron has accepted God’s choice of his kid brother as primary leader of the children of Israel in the Exodus from Egypt with no hint of envy or jealousy, thus restoring in some way the murder of younger brother Abel by older brother Cain, who hated him without a cause.]

Psalm 145:8-9, 17 -- “The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.”

Psalm 147:10 -- The Lord does not delight in the strength of the horse. He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy.

Proverbs 25:2 -- It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings and wise men is to search out and reveal the hidden meaning of a matter. [JHK’s understanding of this pithy verse.]

Isaiah 40:28 -- Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the Earth, neither faints nor grows weary. His understanding is unsearchable.

Isaiah 55:8-9 -- “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are My ways your ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the Earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Isaiah 63:16 -- You, O Lord, are our Father! Our Redeemer from everlasting is Your name!

Isaiah 64:8 -- But now, O Lord, You are our Father! We are the clay, You are our Potter, and all we are the work of Your hand.

Jeremiah 33:11 -- Praise the Lord of hosts, for the  Lord is good and His mercy endures forever.

Ezekiel 16 -- [This entire looooong chapter of 63 verses should be a study in itself, depicting the nativity, maturation, splendor, fall, abominations, and restoration of Jerusalem by a loving God who seems to a assume the roles of Father, Mother, Lover, Judge, and Savior of the City of David.]

Ezekiel 34:11-31 -- [God Himself is the Good Shepherd in this long passage. Compare Psalm 23 and John 10:1-30. This is an excellent example of what I call “The resonance between the Old Testament and the New Testament.” * The Nature of God as Spirit is expressed in Ezekiel, and the Nature of that Spirit of God dwelling in the flesh in human form in Jesus is expressed in John. * Key passages: “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Indeed, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.” (Ezekiel 34:11) “I will save My flock and they shall no longer be a prey.” (Ezekiel 34:22) “I will establish one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them.” (Ezekiel 34:23) “You are My flock, the flock of My pasture. You are men, and I am your God.” (Ezekiel 34:31) * So, too, with Jesus, who says, “I am the Good Shepherd.” (John 10:11 & 14) “I lay down My life for the sheep.” (John 10:15) “My sheep hear My voice. I know them and they follow Me. (John 10:27) ]

Hosea -- [The entire 14 chapters of Hosea constitute an extended parable of “prophetic acts” depicting God’s love for Israel, Israel’s infidelity, idolatry, and harlotry, and God’s ultimate forgiveness and restoration of His beloved people and nation.] “Go, take for yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord.” (1:2) “In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ there it shall be  said to them, ‘You are sons of the living God.’” (1:10) “O Israel, return to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.” (14:1) Nevertheless, “I will heal their backsliding, and I will love them freely, because My anger has turned away from them.” (14:4)

Jonah -- God teaches Jonah (and us!) a lesson in compassion and pity concerning that great city of Ninevah, “in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between  their right hand and their left.” [Compare Jesus’s trifold lament over Jerusalem and the Temple in Luke 13:34-35, 19:41-44, and 21:5-6.]

Nahum 1:1-15 -- [The same God who spared Ninevah in Jonah has decided to destroy it in Nahum, no doubt because it has reverted to its evil ways. * Key passages: “God is jealous, and the Lord avenges … and is furious.” (1:2) “The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, but He will not at all acquit the wicked.” (1:3) “Who can stand before His indignation?” (1:6) “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him; but .. darkness will pursue His enemies.” (1:7-8)]

Malachi 2:10-15 -- [As so often in Scripture, God virtually equates idolatry with adultery, as He compares leaving the love of God for the worship of idols to betrayal in marriage, calling marriage “the Lord’s Holy Institution, which He loves” in 2:11.]

Matthew 6:5-15 -- [Jesus promulgates what we call “The Lord’s Prayer” and urges forgiveness, stressing that God is “our Father in heaven” and that God’s Will and Kingdom be established “on Earth as it is in heaven.” * After all, God is not stupid! God is Love and His Spirit of Love is pervasive in heaven. He would not have created a material world if He did not want that same Spirit of Love to prevail on Earth!]

Matthew 7:7-8 -- Ask, and it will be given to you! Seek, and you will find! Knock, and it will be opened to you! For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened! [This is one of the happiest of all Scriptures! For it ensures success for those who truly seek the Lord! Consider also Matthew 6:33 -- “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” * “Love” is an active verb! And our seeking of True Love is our seeking for God and His abiding Love. He wants us to search diligently and wholeheartedly for Him! “Seek the Lord while He may be found! Call upon Him while He is near!” (Isaiah 55:6) “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14) ”You will seek the Lord your God and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 4:29)]

Matthew 7:9-12 -- [God is a loving Father who gives good gifts to His children. “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”]

Matthew 23:9 -- Do not call anyone on Earth your father! Because One is your Father, He who is in heaven.

Luke 15 -- [This chapter contains the three parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son, where God is depicted as a compassionate and forgiving Father who longs for his errant boy and waits patiently for his return.]

John 3:16-17 -- For God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. * For God did not send His Son into the World to condemn the World, but that the World through Him might be saved.

John 4:24 -- God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

Romans 1:20 -- For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. [Compare Psalm 19:1-6.]

Romans 8:14-16 -- For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

1 Corinthians 8:6 -- For us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christs, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.

1 Corinthians 14:33 -- God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. [JHK Note: Because Jesus is Emmanuel, the incarnation of the Heart and Spirit of God in flesh, a human body, he can likewise say, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. .. Let not your heart be troubled.” (John 14:27)]

Ephesians 4:4-6 -- There is one body and one Spirit .. one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, through all, and in you all.

1 Timothy 4:4 -- Every creature of God is good.

Hebrews 13:6 -- [Quotes Psalm 118:5-6]

1 Peter 1:17 -- Call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s works. [JHK Note: We are saved by Grace through Faith, but judgment is according to works. This is a constant theme oft repeated in Scripture, as in the White Throne Judgment found not just once, but twice in Revelation 20:11-15.]

2 Peter 3:8-9 -- With the Lord, one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. * The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. [JHK: It is curious to note that God says to Adam that he will die in the day he eats the fruit of the Three of Knowledge of Good and Evil, while Lucifer / the Tempter (who is portrayed as a serpent) contradicts God’s word and says clearly, “You will not surely die; for God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5) Eve ate & Adam ate, but they did not die immediately in that calendar day; but when we read the genealogy of ten generations in Genesis 5, we can see that Methuselah lived 969 years, but no human lived more than 1000 years.]

1 John 4:16 -- God is Love, and he who abides in Love abides in God, and God in him. [JHK Note: A key aspect of love is fidelity, which includes obedience to the Word and Will of God. As Jesus says in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” Most interestingly, Jesus gives only four commandments, and all four have to do with LOVE: Love God (Matthew 22:37-38), Love your neighbor (Matthew 22:39), Love your enemy (Matthew 5:43-48), and “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12).]

Revelation 1:8 -- “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” [JHK Note: In the structure of the Bible, the Alpha is Genesis Chapters 1 & 2 -- the Creation; and the Omega is Revelation Chapters 21 & 22 -- the New Creation. This resonance and symmetry between the Old Testament and New Testament is important to understand. There is no sin and no evil, no fear, guilt, or shame, in God’s original Creation; and there no sin or evil, no fear, guilt, or shame in the New Creation. Sin and evil enter the human world in Genesis 3 and are destroyed in Revelation 20.]